eee AU Ute BON RU ly iby iN 9 
White Pelican at Orland 
THERE WAS A DECIDED flurry of excitement among the bird watchers of 
Chicago when a white pelican was seen at McGinnis Slough in the Orland 
Park Forest Preserve. October 4 Mrs. Amy Baldwin, Mrs. Frank Lindsey 
and Mr. and Mrs. C. O. Decker paid a casual visit to the west end of the 
lake and there saw a large white bird that at first glance was called an 
egret, but one look through the binoculars showed it to be a white pelican, 
the first to be recorded in the area since 1921. Word of the find was 
quickly passed around to other amateur ornithologists and on the following 
day the bird was observed by quite a number of persons. 
COURTESY CHICAGO ACADEMY OF SCIENCES 
White Pelicans 
The white pelican is definitely a rare visitor to the Chicago area as 
but three records are noted in “Birds of the Chicago Region,” which says 
“One was taken in Chicago, April, 1903, and another in Lake Co., IIl., in 
the spring of 1906. A dead bird was picked up on the beach in Porter Co., 
Ind., Oct. 23, 1921.” Forbush in “Birds of Massachusetts” states that 
there is no record of the bird ever having bred east of the Mississippi, 
and gives but three records for his state, the most recent being May 
18, 1905. 
