On Monday (23 March) I had a great time assisting with a national media tour highlighting American White Pelicans and birding at Harlan County Lake. The event is part of Harlan County Tourism’s Pelican Watch and Homecoming Celebration. I served as a bird expert during the “pelagic trip” portion of the tour. Clem Klaphake and Lauren Dinan also participated in this capacity. This was yet another chance to help show off Nebraska’s birding opportunities to visitors, most of whom came from out-of-state.
The term “pelagic trip” will be readily identified by birders as oceanic birding trips targeting seabirds. Pelagic trips in this part of the world are a tongue-in-cheek reference to boat birding trips on large inland lakes. Jocularity aside, birding from a boat can be excellent because it provides access to areas that might be off limits through the usual landlubbing. Plus, it is just fun. Harlan County Lake Association’s free boat trips are yet another great birding and birdwatching opportunity here in Nebraska.
Obviously the focus of the boat trips and the celebration is American White Pelicans. Good numbers of pelicans do stopover at Harlan County Lake during migration and this is a great way to get up close and personal with these big birds. Fellow NGPC employee and birder T.J. Walker aptly described American White Pelicans as the avian version of a B-52 (the plane, not the alternative rock band) on NET’s Nebraska Stories. Large water bodies do attract a unique diversity of birds and, occasionally, a genuine vagrant seabird.
Making a trek down to Harlan County Lake is a worthwhile stand-alone trip. Since this destination is less than a hour’s drive from the central Platte River, though, swinging down to see the pelicans is a nice add-on to any trip to see Sandhill Cranes in central Nebraska. Below, I share several photos from Monday’s pelagic trip on Harlan County Lake. We got great looks at pelicans, but also got some nice looks at some rare gulls. If you want more information about the Pelican Watch and Homecoming Celebration, click here.
As always, good birding!
Thanks to Pat Underwood, the Harlan County Lake Association, the captains of the vessels, Harlan County and the pelicans.