A lost pelican that had delighted neighbors of Winnapaug Pond fails to survive the season's chill.

01:21 AM EST on Saturday, February 19, 2005

BY KATIE MULVANEY
Journal Staff Writer

WESTERLY -- It soared, it swam, it preened its feathers on the shores of Winnapaug Pond. But sadly, the American white pelican that delighted so many during these dark winter months has died.

The body of the great white bird was found last week, near a spring at the edge of the cove, according to Donald Friend, who used to watch the fair-weather visitor from the window of his Brightman Way home.

Friend, 86, learned of the bird's death Tuesday, and, like others, was saddened by the news. "I thought it was wonderful. I didn't see it fly, but that was probably the greatest sight of all," he said.

The pelican was first seen at the pond Dec. 29. A fierce cold snap and a blizzard have hit the region since it was last seen Jan. 21. The pond has been frozen solid for much of the time.

The bird's carcass has been turned over to University of Rhode Island Prof. Robert Kenney, who is keeping it in a freezer at the Bay Campus. He hopes to put it to academic use.

Journal file photo / Bob Breidenbach

An American white pelican that was found dead last week is seen here shortly after its first sighting in December at Winnapaug Pond, in Westerly.

Kenney, a marine-mammal scientist and expert birder, has not closely inspected the pelican, but speculates that it died of starvation. "Once the pond froze over, there was no way for it to get food," he said.

A scavenger dragged and chewed the bird's midsection a bit, he said.

American white pelicans breed as far north as central Canada during summer. In winter, they migrate south to the Gulf Coast, and are rarely seen north of Florida.

Wildlife officials believe that a storm blew the pelican off course during its migration south, and that it picked the protected cove to rest and refuel.

For a few weeks, it appeared to gain strength. It ate baitfish, flew, and preened itself on a spit of land jutting into the pond. Then it vanished.

Wildlife officials elected to let nature take its course, said Janis Nepshinsky, outreach specialist for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. The regional office of migratory birds instructed her to rescue only injured birds.

"It's normal for a bird to get thrown off course," she said. Often, they get back on track.

American white pelicans, Pelecanus erythroryhnchos, have been sighted nine times in Rhode Island since 1900, according to the Audubon Society of Rhode Island.