Migrating white pelicans spotted in Mattoon and Shelbyville

MATTOON, Ill. (AP) - No, you're not seeing things: Those are pelicans out on by lakes in the Mattoon and Shelbyville area of eastern Illinois.

U.S. Army Corps of Engineers natural resource specialist Lee Mitchell tells the Journal Gazette & Times-Courier that migrating American white pelicans have been stopping by on their way to and from the Gulf Coast from the Dakotas every spring and fall in recent years.

Mitchell says the pelicans that probably migrate by following the Mississippi River never used to venture east to the area, but that they started drifting to Lake Shelbyville about 15 years ago and more recently to Lake Mattoon. He says that the white pelicans are drawn to the area by the large schools of American gizzard shad found in the shallow water of the lakes.

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Information from: Mattoon Journal-Gazette, http://www.jg-tc.com