A wingspan of nearly eight feet gives this bird lots of wing area to support its gliding abilities. They are gregarious, meaning many birds will likely be flying, loitering or feeding together at any one time.

Winter range tends to along the gulf shores of Florida westward to Texas and the shores of Baja Mexico. Summer ranges can be anywhere in the Midwest and southern Canada.

Locally, in Iowa, any of the big river reservoirs such as Lake Red Rock, Saylorville, Coralville, and Rathbun will hold pelicans. However, a flock of these long distance flyers may appear in any farm ponds, local lakes like Green Castle, Sand Lake, Pine Lake, or even the cemetery pond at Marshalltown’s Riverside.

A distinctive group behavior of white pelicans is to locate fish, then gently move the fish toward shallower water and when the time is right, all the birds may simultaneously dunk their heads into the water to attempt to scoop up and capture fish into their lower soft skinned lower bill “basket.” This feeding behavior is akin to an orchestrated dance where all the birds do the same thing at the same time. It is interesting to watch.

Nests of these birds in wetland habitats will take 63 to 70 days before hatching. Two eggs are laid. The two young are rivals and only one is likely to survive.

An estimate for North American pegs the population at about 450,000. I hope you are offered the chance to see white pelicans this spring. Watch them carefully with your binoculars. Take special note of how this big white bird conducts its ground, water, or airborne antics.

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Spring is a good time to dust off any good bird field guide identification books. There are many good books to select from.

Wild Birds Unlimited book store in Ames has many to pick from. If you are in that city for any reason, do stop by to see what they have to offer.

Bird watching is a national pastime for the novice or expert. Everyone started out as a novice and gained experience through time to higher levels of natural history observations.

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EAGLES on nests at the Decorah nesting tree with its remote camera watching it 24/7, is a fun website to review. A recent film clip showed the adult scaring a mouse away from the nest twigs. The mouse successfully escaped into the lower branches but not before being rebuffed by the outstretched wings of the adult eagle. A mouse, if captured by an eagle, would be a one bite, one swallow lunch time snack.

The web site is keeping a close count until the first eagle egg is likely to hatch. It will not be long now.

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Peregrine Falcons are another Iowa native bird of prey. This species nested in cliff cavities or ledges in exposed bedrock sites along the Mississippi River.

In modern times, this bird has adapted to tall buildings and bridges. A restoration program began in 1989 with 23 birds released in Cedar Rapids.

Nineteen were released in Des Moines in 1991. Many of those releases did result in a slow but steady growth in the population.

As of 2024, most nesting successes took place along the Mississippi River, in urban settings and at energy plant towers. Seventeen nests were monitored during 2024 with 15 successful and only two reported as failed.

An average per nest success was 2.77, an increase from 1.92 in 2023. Overall, Peregrine Falcons in Iowa appear to be stable. Nesting falcons will likely return to their historical nesting sites during 2025.

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A review of the IOWA DEER CLASSIC show held last weekend is in order. It was a successful show again with an overflow set of vendors filling every available booth space.

More than 400 vendors signed up for and brought their products or services for display. There was a lot to see, and many great folks to visit with concerning some aspect of outdoor adventure lifestyles. Deer and deer related offerings were the main highlight.

As for deer mounts brought to be included in the big buck contest, that number was over 325 this year. A great group of measurers, roughly 18 of them, had their hands full to go through the process of scoring antler sets.

As the Friday entries accumulated, each in turn was given the measuring score sheet step by step itemization. Saturday’s entries finally got caught up by late afternoon. Sunday entries were just a trickle but still important.

This year I participated with that group of measurers to put the tape to whitetails from across Iowa. Every set of deer antlers are unique.

Every set brings its own challenges to decipher the mass and symmetry standards as outlined by the Boone & Crockett Club and/or the Pope & Young Club. When an entry score was completed, signs were made to indicate the owner, the county the deer was taken and its ranking score. Then if that entry was in the top five for a particular category, it was hung on a display leaderboard for all to see.

Judging by the public who were passing by the deer trophy displays, it was evident that many favorable impressions were made to attest to Iowa’s land ability to grow excellent deer, year after year.

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In nature, there are predators and prey. One way of understanding this is eat or be eaten.

This may sound harsh, but it is reality. A predator eats prey to survive. From the bottom of a food chain to the top, this eons old system of energy flow from one organism to another continues to play out.

Predators may be microscopic such as parasites. Parasites do not usually kill the host, although they can in some circumstances.

Within the insect world, small ants may be voracious predators of mites or other smaller insects or invertebrates. Ants may cooperate to take down, kill and eat things much larger than themselves.

Some animals large or small may scavenge already dead animals. Animals that eat leafy green plants can be considered predators of the vegetation they consume. The plants, however, do not die as a result of being pruned.

A predator must search for food, and, if found, decide how and when to pursue it. Will the energy expended be worth the effort? Too small and it is not worth the effort.

If too large, a chase may never begin. Opportunities are always being evaluated by predators.

A predator may chase its prey or it may lay in wait to accomplish an ambush. Every habitat requires choices both for predators and prey.

Sometimes safety in numbers helps as there may be many eyes, ears and noses to detect threats. Birds that specialize in catching insects flying in the air are one example of very well refined adaptations that work for that species. Other birds hunt for insects in vegetation or on the ground or upon other animals.

Rodents tend to be very populated with large numbers of their species. Reproduction is fast and furious.

Predators of small rodents may be larger mammals or even birds such as hawks, falcons or eagles. Rabbit populations surge each spring.

By the time a year has passed, the bulk of those new rabbits were killed and eaten by something bigger. An experienced adult population of rabbits always seems to survive to bring on new generations.

When it comes to top predators on the food pyramid, humans have learned through agriculture how to raise food crops planted in the ground to grow, and people have learned how to feed other food stocks to animals meant to grow well and then be processed for human consumption.

Hunters of game animals during fall hunting seasons secure wild grown protein sources in accord with scientifically based controlled takings.

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Garry Brandenburg is the retired director of the Marshall County Conservation Board. He is a graduate of Iowa State University with a BS degree in Fish & Wildlife Biology.

Contact him at:

P.O. Box 96

Albion, IA 50005