The Growing Spring Presence of American White Pelicans in Illinois

The American white pelican, a 4-foot-tall water bird with a 9-foot wingspan and a large orange throat pouch, once was a rare sight in Illinois. But now, the bird arrives in the hundreds to thousands across the state, including the Chicago region, each spring and fall during migration.

In early spring, it’s become a tradition for Chicago-area residents to visit places such as Lake Renwick, in Will County; Nelson Lake, in Kane County; and the Chain O’ Lakes, in Lake County, to look for migrating pelicans stopping to rest and feed on lakes and rivers. Nature lovers watch pelicans in the air as they glide silently in a V shape with wide wings and black flight feathers.   

“They’re so majestic, and they’re so huge,” says Clara Svoboda, an Antioch resident who anticipates seeing hundreds of pelicans stop at Lake Catherine on the Chain O’ Lakes.

“They come here typically in March and stay for about six weeks,” she says. “They’re migratory—they’re here, and then they’re gone. They arrive each year depending on when the ice goes away.” 

Farther south in Illinois, for example, at the large reservoir Carlyle Lake, white pelicans may appear as early as mid-February. In addition, this bird, whose ancestors have been documented in fossils at least 36 million years old, was confirmed breeding for the first time in Illinois in 2009 in Carroll County. It also wouldn’t be unusual today to find a small nonbreeding group spending summer on an Illinois waterway. 

American white pelicans historically have nested on isolated islands in freshwater lakes in Canada and the Great Plains, well east of Illinois. They migrate to the Gulf Coast for winter. Illinois residents that visit Florida in winter may see large groups of them at places like the J.N. “Ding” Darling Wildlife Refuge. Today, residents don’t have to leave the state to see a number of white pelicans.

In spring, Carlyle Lake has witnessed 8,000 or more white pelicans, and in fall, 10,000, likely with some young born in the summer, have been seen. In the Chicago region, the numbers are often in the hundreds.

They started their eastward expansion from western Iowa, the edge of their territory.

“In the last 10 to 15 years, the bird has become widespread throughout Iowa, when it was once only seen in the far western part of the state,” says Stephen Dinsmore, a well-known birder, wildlife expert and professor at Iowa State University, in Ames.

The pelican moved farther east as a migrant into Illinois, and today it’s even found as a breeder on the western border of Lake Erie. 

“This is an example of a bird that has been able to exploit human-altered environment successfully,” Dinsmore says. For example, the introduction of non-native, invasive Asian carp into Illinois waterways has given the pelicans food to eat that is not commercially fished. Experts also think climate change has contributed to the pelican’s expansion.

Dinsmore adds, “Pelicans are long-lived. If a number of birds find a good spot, that information gets transferred for quite a few years to the next generation.”

Some worry the pelicans may be eating fish humans would like to catch. But “white pelicans seldom prey on the same fish sought by people,” says Carol Rich Montez, an Illinois Master Naturalist.

“Instead, pelicans prefer rough fish like bottom feeders and small schooling fish,” she writes in an April 2022 article published by the Illinois Department of Natural Resources. “They also dine on minnows, crayfish, crustaceans and amphibians.”

However, catfish aquaculture farms in the Mississippi Delta have become increasingly popular spring migration stops for more easterly migrating flocks of pelicans, according to the Cornell Lab of Ornithology.

Pelicans have a particular feeding style that observers can easily watch. They don’t dive; rather, they often gather in large groups, dipping their bills and flapping their wings to bring fish closer. Then they dip their large throat pouches into the lake, collecting up to three gallons of water along with schools of fish. They raise their bills to drain the water, then swallow their prize.

As pelicans move eastward, they are choosing new nesting spots. In 2009, the American white pelican successfully raised young on an island in the Mississippi River at the Illinois-Iowa border. The pelicans nest mostly on isolated islands in freshwater lakes.

Mostly, though, Illinois residents see the pelicans during migration. One of the earlier sightings of an American white pelican in northern Illinois was on a prior March 9 at a lake in Mundelein.

Svoboda says her neighbors come to her home and sit at a picnic table on a patio overlooking Lake Catherine when the pelicans arrive. 

“When we sit down at the lake, the pelicans don’t seem scared to move away. Lot of times, you walk down there, the ducks will fly away from you, but the pelicans don’t,” she says.

“My neighbors have their phones and take videos of the pelicans,” Svoboda adds. Sometimes, the pelicans will disappear for a couple of days to visit another nearby lake, but then they return to Lake Catherine for more views of the large, white birds. 

Svoboda and her friends watch the pelicans glide a few feet above the water before landing, and they also watch them run atop the water before taking off into the sky. And each spring, they start thinking about the return of the giant white birds that now consider Illinois a great place to stop, feed and rest during migration.

Where to Watch Pelicans in Northern Illinois

Sometime in early spring, the pelicans begin migrating through Illinois. Here are some places to look for them.

McKinley Woods, in Channahon
ReconnectWithNature.org/preserves-trails/preserves/mckinley-woods

Lake Renwick Heron Rookery Nature Preserve, in Plainfield
ReconnectWithNature.org/preserves-trails/preserves/lake-renwick

Rock Run Rookery Preserve, in Joliet
ReconnectWithNature.org/preserves-trails/preserves/rock-run-rookery

Chain O’ Lakes State Park, in Spring Grove
dnr.Illinois.gov/parks/park.chainolakes.html

Starved Rock Lock and Dam Illinois Waterway Visitors Center, in Ottawa
IllinoisRiverRoad.org/places/united-states/illinois/ottawa/nature-outdoor-recreation/illinois-waterway-visitors-center

Chautauqua National Wildlife Refuge, near Havana
fws.gov/refuge/Chautauqua

Sheryl DeVore has written six books on science, health and nature, as well as nature, health and environment stories for national and regional publications. Read more at SherylDeVore.WordPress.com.