The spectacle of a great Pelican feeding bonanza | BBC Global
2 Video Views·Jul 7, 2025
A flock of pelicans spread their wings and flew low over the water, suddenly swooping down like arrows, their beaks wide open to scoop up fish. The water was covered in white foam. The sound of flapping wings and loud cries mingled together. A lively, wild, and enchanting scene.
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Pelicans are famed for their appetite.
Damming rivers disrupts their natural flow.
But here, Marsh Lake in Minnesota, nearly a thousand miles downstream from the Rockies,
it's created an unexpected opportunity for some.
American white pelicans.
They arrive here each spring on three-meter wingspans.
Some of them have flown over 2,000 miles just to get here.
Their nests are protected from predators by the surrounding waters.
22,000 of them cram onto the islands.
As a sign that they're ready to breed, both males and females grow a special horn on their bills,
which drops off after their eggs have been laid.
But Marsh Lake's dam offers more than protection.
It forces migrating fish to pass through a narrow gap, concentrating them all in one place.
And pelicans are famed for their appetite.
Some of the carp funneled across the dam can be over a meter long.
But when one pelican finds more suitably-sized fish,
it's the queue for them all to pile in.
After their young have fledged, these pelicans will leave.
They'll fly towards the main channel of the Mississippi River,
using it to help navigate on their long journey south.