On this Earth Day 2020, just like the swallows return to Capistrano, White Pelicans return to Chambers Grove on the St. Louis River every spring. (image taken yesterday morning)
It is worth noting that when I was a child in the 1960’s the St. Louis River was essentially a dead from the wastes deposited by our Northland cities. Years later through the efforts of Western Lake Superior Sanitary District (WLSSD) and other efforts … sturgeon spawn in the river, birds fish, and mammals live / hunt the river banks. As a child I would not have even thought of swimming in that water. Ugh.
Thus, let’s applaud our past efforts to clean up the environment, but also protect the laws which protect our land, water and air. Just yesterday the Trump administration rolled back Federal protections for streams and wetlands. If we keep killing nature through pollution, we will eventually kill ourselves. (story from National Public Radio about the roll back of environmental protection laws)
Some more photographs I took yesterday morning of the White Pelicans …
All is calm …
For some reason I imagine this one pelican is exhorting its buddies that IT IS TIME TO GET UP! Given the temperature was 28F with a stiff breeze, I suspect everyone else thought fishing could wait! Finally one other pelican yells …. “Shut Up!”
Thanks so much for posting this. We went there today to see these magnificent birds in our home state after seeing them in Feb in the Boca Grande pass of Florida. Such a traveling fest! We are new at birding so this was such a thrill, on such a beautiful day!
Welcome to the world of birding. Glad you visited Chambers Grove. Make certain you check out my favorite northern Minnesota birding locations … easy link via the menubar.
We have been cleaning up waterways quite well since the inception of the EPA by Nixon in the early 1970s. The Trump administration rolled back some Obama restrictions imposed just 5 years ago. 45 years versus 5 years….not a reason to panic. Let’s look at what Trump did.
Trump helped to clarify what the States were doing versus the Feds and better define what a waterway was. The Obama regulations were “so broad and open to interpretation that everything from ditches and dry creek beds to gullies to isolated ponds formed after a big rain could be considered a ‘water of the United States.’ ”
Lots of Trump’s rollbacks are in court still. They will be adjudicated as things are in this country.
Beautiful! Such a peaceful vision, thank you!