The Rare Bird Review

MEDINA, ND -- Wildlife officials estimate nearly 27,000 American white pelicans have abandoned their summer nesting grounds at a national wildlife refuge north of here. The question is why - and where they went. (I've been to North Dakota and the obvious answer is "anywhere but here.")

``It's like they packed up and left in the middle of the night - except they didn't pack up, they just left,'' said Ken Torkelson, a spokesman for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in Bismarck.

Left behind were thousands of eggs, which are unlikely to hatch, officials say. (The local coyotes will be eating omelets for three months.)

The Chase Lake National Wildlife Refuge is the home of the largest known nesting colony of white pelicans in North America. The birds were noticed missing about two weeks ago, said Kim Hanson, refuge manager of the Arrowwood complex, which includes Chase Lake.

``We don't think they were killed. We think they abandoned their nest,'' Hanson said Wednesday. (Maybe Brown Pelicans were moving into the neighborhood and this is just another example of 'white flight.')

Officials suspect some kind of disturbance - human or animal - because some of the remaining birds appear more skittish than usual, Hanson said. (I feel a disturbance in the force, Obi Wan.)

The pelicans nest on Chase Lake's two islands, and for the past decade, they also have built a colony on a peninsula on the side of the lake as their numbers increased. Wildlife officials say about 80 pelicans are left on the peninsula and on one of the islands. The other island has seen no major population loss and still has about 2,400 birds.

The number of breeding birds on the refuge has soared from an average of around 10,000 in the 1970s to 35,466 in 2000 and 29,000 last year, Hanson said. The colonies are not monitored each day, but Torkelson said the monitoring will increase. (Note to Torkelson - the birds are gone, you nitwit, what are you going to monitor?)

The pelicans suffered last year from the West Nile virus, which killed roughly 50 percent of the young birds, Hanson said. Dead birds may have attracted more coyotes and other predators, he said, although those animals are not new to the area.

One dead pelican has tested positive for botulism, and another one showing symptoms of botulism was found Wednesday about 15 miles from the lake, Hanson said. But the number of dead birds has not been considered high enough to label botulism as the main culprit in the disappearance.

``We are re-evaluating our predator management plan,'' Hanson said.

``This may be just a normal correction factor - nature taking its course,'' he said. (So how soon before I start seeing pelican pictures on my milk cartons?)