Promenade with Pelicans

 Promenade with Pelicans

“Are the pelicans still there?” asked the gentleman on the Salmon Arm wharf, who was training his dog. He had seen us with our binoculars and camera poised, as we were returning to the parking lot.

Salmon Arm Wharf

“We haven’t seen any,” we replied… but the truth was – we hadn’t even been looking for them as we didn’t know there were any in the area.

A few days later, we hiked one of the nearby trails, and that’s when we saw them for the first time. They were on the other side of Shuswap Lake but, as we only had our cellphone cameras, we were unable to take any close-ups of them.

The walk we were one turned out to be a birders’ paradise so, a couple of days later – and armed with the appropriate equipment for capturing what we were seeing - we embarked upon our second hike of the trail, which follows the lake for 3 km, with a detour around an ‘island’.

It was there where we watched in awe as dozens of pelicans carried on their daily life – fishing, taking off and landing on the lake, preening themselves and each other, and seemingly enjoying the company of their peers.

A few of the dozen pelicans we were able to observe

We were able to capture several videos of these amazing birds. Here is a selection: 

It was fascinating to see these large birds so near to us (about 300ft away), and to observe their behavior. Once we had found the perfect viewing spot, we must have stayed there for nearly an hour, until we had nearly exhausted the batteries in our viewing contraptions!

As well as the pelicans, we also captured a couple of bald eagles, and several blue herons that were dotted among them. So many different water fowl were to be seen and we spoke to a local birder who told us that the pelicans gathered to nest in a lake a fair bit north of Salmon Arm, and visit this area in July until the first cold snap – usually at the beginning of October – so we felt lucky to have seen them at this time. She also gave us tons of information about birds to be seen in the area, and where to go to observe different species.

American Wigeon

A pair of bald eagles that had, seemingly, taken root!

Preening each other

Blue heron from the back

Lincoln Sparrow

Muskrat among the marshes

One interesting fact she shared with us was that there are two main types of pelican in North America  – bacisally the white and the brown. The brown variety are the ones that dive and swoop for their catch, whereas the white ones we were seeing, here, tend to herd the fish into one area and then scoop them up in their throat pouches, which we had seen them do.

After circling the ‘island’ we returned to the trail while keeping our eyes peeled for more of our feathered friends.

The mostly flat trail, itself, has its own beauty… and the peace and tranquility of the experience was only interrupted when exchanging brief greetings with other hikers, or when a freight train (a really LONG freight train!) passed us by on the railway line which runs beside the trail, mostly hidden by trees.

Again, here are some video clips we took of our hike: 

We estimated that the round-trip hike was about 7 km altogether and, after nearly four hours of walking, standing and ogling, and stopping to appreciate nature’s beauty, we returned to the car, with gratitude for the ability to be staying in such a superb area.

P.S. Mark posted about this on social media... and he waxed poetically!  Here's what he said: 

"So, we were profoundly and pleasantly surprised to partake in the beauty of this plethora of poised, placid, and sometimes playful, pretty pelicans on our peaceful pre-lunch promenade in this very picturesque perfect place!!"

How about that!!!