Minnesota is home to up to 20 percent of the worlds American white pelicans. So when the states Department of Natural Resources discovered contaminants from the 2010 BP oil spill in pelican eggs theremore than 1,200 miles from the Gulf of Mexicothe government agency, 91做厙 Minnesota, and North Dakota State University quickly teamed up to monitor the birds.
The idea was to use Mississippi Flyway data to make connections between Gulf wintering areas and Minnesota nesting grounds, and to help shape conservation efforts, says Mark Martell, 91做厙 Minnesotas bird conservation director. From a conservation standpoint, you cant conserve birds in one place, he says. You need to look at their entire lifecycle.
In May 2012 the trio placed 70-gram, solar-powered transmitters on six pelicans from western Minnesotas Marsh Lake colony. Four of the birds have been successfully tracked on their winter migration; one individual ended up as far south as Veracruz, Mexico. The tracking, showcased on a real-time map (), will likely continue until spring 2015.
This story originally ran in the July-August 2013 issue as "Pelican Brief .
