This year’s Blue-Banded Pelican Sighting Contest winners

Deanna Barth, this year’s winner of the Blue-Banded Pelican Sighting Contest

The 2013 Blue-Banded Pelican Sighting Contest has come to an end, and it was a success — although very different from the previous contest from October 2012 to January 2013. This year’s contest ran from July 29 through October 14. (Read more info on this program here.)

Last year, we were inundated with young pelicans at both of our Los Angeles and San Francisco Bay centers. Once released, they were easily spotted, as these birds spent more time around harbors. This year, the abundance of schooling fish along the coast was a real boost for pelicans, especially young ones, and we saw fewer young birds at our centers. About 150 young pelicans came into both our centers this year, compared to more than 600 in 2012. Because of this, we released fewer hatching-year birds, resulting in a reduced number of sightings.

But we still had some great sightings. During the duration of the contest, we had 41 Blue-Banded Pelican sightings, representing 35 individual birds. Twenty-two of these sightings were first-time spots: birds that have never been seen since their release. Though one of those birds was found dead in Mexico, the others were all sighted alive.

The winner of our sighting contest is Deanna Barth, a veterinary assistant of 14 years and avid wildlife rescuer and bird watcher. Deanna sighted eight Blue-Banded Pelicans from Monterey to Half Moon Bay, Calif. As the top spotter, Deanna won a Vortex Nomad 20-60 X 60 Angled Spotting Scope and a chance to release a rehabilitated Brown Pelican. Congratulations, Deanna!

Our second-place winner is Julie Howar. Julie is a wildlife biologist who is also a member of our oil spill response team. Julie spotted four Blue-Banded Pelicans, all near Pismo Beach, Calif. Julie won a pair of 2X Eagle Optics Denali 8 X 42 binoculars. Congratulations, Julie!

Our Blue-Banded Pelican Photo Contest winners are:

First Place: Marlin Harms, who photographed Pelican T82 near San Luis Obispo, Calif. on September 5.

Second Place: James Kenney, who spotted Pelican P06 at the Malibu Lagoon on October 14.

Third Place: Nathan Rodriguez, who spotted and photographed Pelican K15 at the Pacifica Pier on October 14.

The first-place photograph winner will receive a beautiful Alex and Ani pelican bangle, an honorary International Bird Rescue membership and an International Bird Rescue T-shirt. The second- and third-place winners will receive honorary memberships as well as T-shirts.

Check out the sightings below. Particularly interesting is K15, who has made a beautiful transformation, evident by his original juvenile plumage to his now adult plumage. K15 also spend his summer in Washington and then came back to California to the place he seems to like best, the Pacifica Pier!

Meanwhile, M32 still resides inland and is living at Bel Marin Keys near Novato, Calif. This bird has chosen to live inland.