July 17th, 2024, 4:45 a.m.
Lengthy earlier than dawn, underneath hazy streetlights, I joined dozens of blurry eyed biologists, volunteers, members of the media, Utah Division of Wildlife (DWR) employees in addition to different Utah Division of Pure Assets (DNR) staff, on the DNR headquarters in Salt Lake Metropolis. We braved the early morning hours for the chance to do one thing that hasn’t been achieved since 2019: make the trek out to Gunnison Island within the North Arm of Nice Salt Lake to band American White Pelicans.
This charismatic species of “mega avifauna” are emblematic of Nice Salt Lake, with 20,000 breeding adults (one of many largest nesting colonies in western North America) traditionally nesting on Nice Salt Lake’s islands, together with Gunnison Island, tucked away within the north arm. American White Pelicans hunt down the hostile, dry, and distant circumstances at locations like Gunnison for security and refuge to lift their younger, making ~60–100-mile day by day round-trip commutes to freshwater wetlands on the japanese facet of Nice Salt Lake, and even reservoirs excessive up in within the Wasatch mountains to forage for fish to feed their chicks.
Low lake ranges over the previous few a long time have fashioned land bridges making most—generally all—of the islands of Nice Salt Lake into peninsulas. Audubon, state biologists, and companions have raised involved for years, as predator (particularly coyotes) entry to the islands may result in the collapse of colonial nesting waterbirds, like pelicans.
From 2014-2023, American White Pelican numbers at Nice Salt Lake have dwindled by greater than 50 p.c with nesting populations solely reaching a median of 8,500. The land bridge at Gunnison Island specifically, has allowed coyotes and different predators to entry the island for years, pushing the pelicans into essentially the most distant bays of the island within the northwest nook. Consequently, throughout an aerial phalarope survey in 2023, DWR biologists confirmed that the priority shared by so many had develop into a actuality: the pelicans had deserted their Gunnison colony that 12 months.
Quick ahead to Might 2024, Nice Salt Lake ranges within the south arm rebounded after a record-breaking snowpack within the winter of 2022-23 and an above common snowpack in 2023-2024. The north arm water ranges sit at about 4192 ft. Regardless of the continued existence of the land bridge, this 12 months’s annual pelican survey held very promising information. DWR discovered that not solely had the pelicans returned to Gunnison to nest in 2024, however for the primary time in 80 years, in addition they returned to nest at Hat Island, situated within the northwest portion of Gilbert Bay within the south arm of Nice Salt Lake.
In the course of the preliminary nesting survey in Might of this 12 months, 1200 nests have been documented on Gunnison Island, and 1900 on Hat Island. Every nest initially has two eggs, but when each eggs hatch, one chick is bigger than the opposite and outcompetes its sibling and often just one chick survives. Generally, because of this one nest equals one chick. John Neill, Wildlife Biologist for the DWR confirmed that from the time the pelicans nest to their ultimate survey on the finish of July, typical survival price for pelican chicks is about 40 p.c. This could imply, that for the 3100 nests at Nice Salt Lake this 12 months—with luck—about 1200 chicks will fledge from Nice Salt Lake’s Islands. Banding a proportion of the pelicans may also assist the state higher perceive the survival price of this 12 months’s chicks.
After the colony collapse of 2023, an outbreak of Chook flu in 2022, and the pandemic impacting 2020-2021, the final effort to band American White Pelicans on Gunnison Island occurred in 2019. The five-year hiatus left the handfuls of volunteers and biologists equipped for the trek in giddy anticipation regardless of the early morning hours. The trek to Gunnison isn’t for the faint of coronary heart—along with the early morning begin, the journey requires a 90-mile drive out to the far west facet of Nice Salt Lake adopted by one other 14-mile drive in ATVs throughout dikes and the lakebed of the north arm.
The two.5 hour one-way journey has such an early departure time to make sure that our crew can band the pelicans earlier than the scorching summer season noon warmth. But the journey felt value it because the panorama was otherworldly with huge, seemingly countless stretches of salt-encrusted lakebed. A really distant location.
The Utah DWR crew main the best way has the occasion coordination all the way down to a science.
Step One: The Pelican Roundup
As soon as we made it to the southern tip of the island, we gathered to organize for the “pelican round-up”. Armed with radios and non permanent fencing provides, the group broke into two groups. The primary crew went over the ridge to stop the pelicans from scurrying up into the cliffs and rocky outcroppings, the place they’re liable to damage. I joined the second crew, with the purpose of sneaking across the rocky nook of the island’s bay, working alongside the shoreline to stop the pelicans from escaping into the saturated salty waters of the north arm, the place the buildup of salt crystals on feathers also can hurt the younger pelicans. After about 20 minutes, we had a gaggle of 100 or so younger however feathered pelicans surrounded.
Younger pelicans at this age are virtually as giant as their mother and father, however nonetheless can’t fly. After a sure age, they depart their particular person nests and group as much as kind a pod. Waddling very very similar to penguins, the parading pod of pelicans was slowly herded into a short lived enclosure. From that time, crew members took turns amassing particular person pelicans and carrying them off to a gaggle of 6 skilled banders.
Step Two: The Seize
There’s a method to apprehending a pelican by hand. The large trick is to get management of their invoice so they can’t lunge and put the handler liable to being caught by the sharp level on the tip. (As soon as the handler has management of their invoice, they should get a finger or two inside the invoice to carry it partly open as holding the invoice and mouth closed fully places them liable to suffocating. With management of their invoice in a single hand, the handler merely reaches their different hand across the pelican’s physique and wings to realize full management and choose them up. Simple, proper? (Unsuitable. Simply ask one Utah state biologists with a everlasting pelican-inflicted scar on his cheek.)
Step Three: Pelican Processing
Every younger pelican was outfitted with a silver USGS leg tag with a singular identification quantity on the left leg, and a black MOTUS tracking tag on the correct. As soon as their new jewellery was put in and knowledge was gathered, the pelicans have been launched one-by-one again onto the island. General, the crew was very environment friendly within the banding effort with the whole course of taking about one minute per fowl, and the crew reaching the purpose of deploying 70 MOTUS tags within the span of an hour.
Dealing with my first pelican held many surprises:
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Their payments are a lot softer and extra versatile than I anticipated, and I used to be cautious to be delicate.
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They didn’t weigh fairly as a lot as I assumed as soon as in hand, however are additionally a big and ponderous fowl in comparison with others I’ve dealt with.
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They are often fairly sassy birds. A number of people tried to lunge at their capturers after being launched, although mine was calm the whole time I dealt with it and rapidly scooted away after the banding course of was full.
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Pelicans deserve appreciation. The entire expertise made me admire pelicans far more, and helped me notice they every have distinctive personalities.
On the finish of July, Utah DWR will repeat this identical banding course of at Hat Island. The state of Utah has banded pelicans for years utilizing varied strategies, from patagial wing tags with giant seen numbers, to small GPS backpacks to assist them higher perceive their actions and migration. This 12 months’s tags, using new and far much less intrusive MOTUS know-how, will enable the State of Utah and companions to see how pelicans transfer throughout their vary utilizing the infrastructure of MOTUS radio towers that ping a radio sign when a person will get inside a sure radius of the tower.
The hope is that this 12 months’s pelican banding effort, mixed with this new know-how, will present insights into the place Nice Salt Lake’s pelican chicks are going and the way they’re doing, furthering our capacity to preserve and maintain Nice Salt Lake’s pelican populations. I personally can’t wait to see the place my new pelican good friend will go over the course of the 12 months.
