West Seattle wildlife: Finally a photo of the pelican

| West Seattle news | Wildlife

Just out of the WSB inbox – thanks to Alec for sharing a photo of an unusual sight in this area: A brown pelican. We’ve had scattered reports of one in the area for some days now, but this is the first photo we’ve seen/received, and now that we’re seeing it, it’s definitely a juvenile (mature brown pelicans take on more of a gray tinge, with a dingy-white head). On the open seacoast, they’re not rare – we’ve seen them from Ocean Shores to San Diego – but inland Puget Sound is rather out of the way.

Tracee Geernaert December 20, 2012 (12:45 pm)

Hey all, Brown Pelicans are very numerous this year. I was in Victoria for the Christmas Bird Count last Sat and they had dozens in the inner harbour hanging about or should I say aboot.

WSB December 20, 2012 (12:47 pm)

Really! Thanks for that note. We ***love*** them, and they are all we truly miss about San Diego, where we lived for a few years before moving here 21 years ago; I hope they are OK, have read some troubling stories about their condition to the south this year. They were endangered decades ago – TR

nemobeansmom December 20, 2012 (4:19 pm)

We’ve lived in the N. Shorewood area for 8 yrs., right above Seola Beach and soon after we moved in we had a pelican land in our evergreen trees and just sit for up to an 1/2 hour and he/she returns every few days.

The first time he/she flew thru our backyard I thought it was a dinosaur bird, it was so huge! :>)