The Brewster Pelican colony in January, which numbered 30,000. Image Credit: Adam Kerezsy.

BREWSTER PELICAN EVENT COMING TO COMPLETION

As the pelican event at Lake Brewster comes to completion, there have been sightings of dead pelicans across the Lachlan. According to Adam Kerezsy, people will continue to find dead birds as the breeding colony breaks up and disperses.

By Adam Kerezsy

Dead pelicans are being noticed throughout the Lachlan, but there’s an explanation: it’s just inland Australia functioning as it should.
Biologists describe Australia’s inland ecosystems as ‘boom-bust’. When times are good, populations of plants and animals can increase quickly, but when the ‘boom’ is over mortality can also occur.
In spring 2021 – following two wet years – pelicans started congregating on channel banks within Lake Brewster, halfway between Lake Cargelligo and Hillston. Pelicans nest communally and on the ground. They obviously believe in safety in numbers.
By mid-summer, there were an estimated 30,000 pelicans at Brewster, comprising adults, half-grown (and very clumsy) ‘turkeys’ and newly-hatched ‘pinkies’. The noise, the smell and the numbers were all impressive in their own unique way.
Keeping 30,000 pelicans alive and healthy requires a massive amount of fish. Young birds consume 300 – 800 grams per day, while adults need 1.5 – 1.8 kilograms per day.
Fish surveys conducted at the same time indicate that juvenile carp were the fuel that was sustaining the colony. The carp numbers grew through December and reached a peak in January, but after that seemed to collapse: hardly surprising given 30 tonnes a day was being removed by long bills and deposited down longer necks.
By April and May, as the season started to turn, the pelicans were getting hungry and – then – wet and cold. They were spotted in large groups leaving Brewster to fish in the main channel of the Lachlan, or Lake Cargelligo, or anywhere where there was a decent supply of food.
The boom was over. The bust had started.
Now – in June – there are only about 4000 young pelicans left at Brewster. Most have successfully exited and dispersed to other parts of Australia, but some of the most recent fledglings don’t have the condition or the energy to make it too far.
It is some of these stragglers that are turning up – dead or very-close-to-dead – throughout the Lachlan.

A newly hatched pelican at Lake Brewster. Image Credit: Adam Kerezsy.

A newly hatched pelican at Lake Brewster. Image Credit: Adam Kerezsy.

Juvenile pelicans that only a mother could love. Image Credit: Adam Kerezsy.

Juvenile pelicans that only a mother could love. Image Credit: Adam Kerezsy.

Last Updated: 30/06/2022By

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