Winged Wonders: Pelicans on the LSU Lakes

Your glory days at LSU are over. You don’t drive by the school much any more, but the kids are visiting for the holidays and the grandchildren insist on going to Tiger Stadium to see Mike the Tiger. So you find yourself driving down Dalrymple Drive near City Park, absently humming along to Raffi, and you can’t figure out why the car in front of you is suddenly slowing down.

“Poppa! Look!” your grandchild says. You cast your eyes in the direction the child is pointing and you’re treated to a splendid view that is extremely rare in an urban setting: a V-shaped squadron of American White Pelicans swimming on the waters of the LSU Lakes and herding fish into an eating zone. And not just three or four of the majestic birds. Dozens of the large yellow-beaked creatures.

Bird watching is usually done by folks with high-powered binoculars, hidden in the brush of far-off swamps and woods. But if weather patterns and feeding sources hold, the LSU Lakes may offer the best view of the annual voyage of the stunning American White Pelican.

Ornithologist Michael Seymour of the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries says that when birds are again drawn to the lakes in the heart of the city, it will be a delight for Capitol City urbanites.

“The nice thing about the flock feeding in the LSU lakes is that it’s a man-made lake and you don’t have to leave the urban area to see the birds,” Seymour said. “It gives those that would never see a pelican in the wild a chance to see one of the biggest birds in North America up close.”

What draws the majestic white pelican to Louisiana?  The cuisine, of course.

Seymour said the birds nest in the interior lakes of North America as far north as Canada’s Alberta and Northwest Territories provinces and feed in Rocky Mountain ponds and lakes; but if those high-elevation waters freeze, the birds have to move.

“They follow the food,” Seymour said.

The birds eventually make their way down to the Bayou State some time during the fall. They always make a stop in the Mississippi Flyway but don’t always land in University Lake.

The birds are now in Louisiana and you may have recently seen them navigating the Morganza Spillway, Seymour said. They also like the calm waters of the Atchafalaya Basin, rice fields and coastal lakes.

Seymour says that if the birds make it to the LSU Lakes, they’re either “loafing” or fishing. Is there a difference? For humans, no, but for pelicans, loafing means they have found a safe place away from other animals that want to eat them.

“Their big goal is to avoid predators,” Seymour said. The pelicans don’t have any aerial enemies, but they are concerned with bobcats and coyotes. Can they sense that there aren’t many bobcats on Dalrymple Drive? There is one tiger, but the birds are apparently smart enough not to light near Mike the Tiger’s cage. And coyotes are seldom seen on Morning Glory Avenue, so it makes sense for the yellow-beaked birds to land in the urban environment.

I suspect the creatures most at risk when the pelicans make the lakes their home are humans. If you’re driving along Dalrymple and you notice a flock of the gleaming white birds swimming along in formation, you may have a tendency to hit your brakes and stop to watch the scene. But just because you notice something fascinating during your morning drive, it doesn’t mean the motorist behind you is going to share your enthusiasm for impromptu bird watching. Important safety tip: pull off the road to observe the birds to avoid rear-end car collisions.

Residents that live along the lakeshore find the birds to be a welcome and soothing sight. Dalrymple Drive homeowner Joel Podulsky admires the way the birds work together.

“They move in unison together,” Podulsky said. “They fish in the lake. They’re all working together right next to each other in rows and make these wonderful geometric patterns.”

The wildlife in plain view from his front door is fascinating, Podulsky said. “It’s a wondrous, fantastic display of nature,” Podulsky continues. “I don’t know if they start fishing in the middle of the lake, then push the fish to the side. It’s mysterious and yet, if one were to continue to watch them and observe them, you could see their formation stretch out for miles.” For the record, City Park Lake is 1.9 miles long. The biggest lake, University Lake, is four miles long.

Last year, the birds spent a considerable amount of time in Bayou Duplantier between the fifth and sixth fairways of City Park Golf Course. It was a photographer’s bonanza.

The birds became acclimated to the constant presence of automobiles and humans. They probably even got used to the quiet whir of golf carts. Their white feathers reflected in stark contrast to the dark water of the lake and made a lovely show for the shutterbugs.

What does the arrival of the American White Pelican mean to city dwellers? “Everyone slows down to watch,” Podulsky said. “It’s a wonder for many people who are just rushing around in their lives.”

When the pelicans come to Baton Rouge, take a break and make your own personal pilgrimage to our urban oasis to experience it.

Writer Sam Irwin is a bird watcher by marriage but has his own binoculars.