In the middle of last month, an American white pelican was spotted swimming off the southwestern shore of Onondaga Lake.
If the big bird was hoping to catch a few tunes at the Lakeside Amphitheater, he flew in a few months early. Anyhow, he’s here for romance, not rock and roll.
Pelican has big beak
This impressive-looking bird weighs in at about 30 pounds with a huge beak that measures about a dozen inches in length. He’s apparently here on a parental assignment because his beak is topped with what ornithologists call a nuptial tubercle.
During the breeding season, these laterally flattened horns grow on the upper bill about one-third the bill’s length behind the tip. This is the only one of the eight species of pelican to have a bill horn. The horn is shed after the birds have mated and laid their eggs.
Although awkward walking on land, the pelicans are stately swimmers and formidable flyers boasting the second-largest average wingspan — about eight feet — of any North American bird after the California condor.
Normally these big birds winter in Florida and return each spring on a flight route west of the Great Lakes area to breed in the U.S. and Canadian prairies. So our visitor may be a bit off-course, but he isn’t the first pelican to settle here. Sometime prior to 1914, an American white pelican was shot and killed on Onondaga Lake and is now on display at Ilick Hall at the College of Environmental Science and Forestry, in Syracuse.
Mute swans at Mud Lock
Meanwhile, over near Mud Lock, mute swans rule the roost. Bright white, the swans are beautiful but can be dangerous during nesting season as they respond violently to any threat to their young. The mute swans here are probably nesting on Klein Island where they could use waterside vegetation in shallow water to build comfortable nests.
Mute swans weigh more than 25 pounds, have white plumage, an orange bill, a black face mask and a graceful curving neck. Native to Eurasia, the birds were imported in the late 1800s to grace parks and estates and have established wild populations such as the one on Onondaga lake.
In recent years, the state Department of Environmental Conservation has labeled the birds as an invasive species which negatively affects native wildlife. In 2014, the DEC issued a proposed 10-year-management plan calling for the elimination of wild populations of mute swans.
More recently, however, the DEC has softened its stance, announcing it will work with anyone who wants to form a Mute Swan Management Plan and that relocation of the birds is possible.
Village vampire?
On April 26, a bat discovered in the village of Liverpool tested positive for rabies, according to the Onondaga County Health Department. The flying mammals are one of the most common carriers of rabies, along with skunks, raccoons and foxes.
Rabies is a fatal disease that attacks the brain and spinal cord. It can take several weeks to several months for rabies symptoms to appear. Early treatment after an exposure can prevent rabies.
Last week’s Liverpool bat was the second critter in the county to test positive for rabies this year. The health department recommends that you wash any wound from an animal bite with soap and water and seek medical attention immediately.
Telephone the department’s animal-disease program at (315) 435-3165 if you find a bat in your house. They’ll ask you to capture the bat so it can be tested.
To bat-proof your home, plug any holes with steel wool.
Cylindrical sweetness!
Good news for your sweet tooth! They’re selling a new pastry at Nichols Supermarket: strawberry or apple Danish strips, pleasingly priced at a bargain 99 cents each.
As long as a cucumber and nearly as thick, the confections might better be called rolls or even logs, but no matter. Whatever you call them, the proof is in the pastry.
Nichols baker Becky O’Brien recommends them. “I think you’re going to enjoy them,” she said. No kidding!
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