27,000 pelicans unexpectedly abandon nests

MEDINA, N.D. – Wildlife officials estimate nearly 27,000 American white pelicans have abandoned their summer nesting grounds at a national wildlife refuge north of here. The question is why and where they went.

“It’s like they packed up and left in the middle of the night – except they didn’t pack up, they just left,” said Ken Torkelson, a spokesman for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in Bismarck.

Left behind were thousands of eggs, which are unlikely to hatch, officials say.

The Chase Lake National Wildlife Refuge is the home of the largest known nesting colony of white pelicans in North America. The birds were noticed missing two weeks ago, said Kim Hanson, refuge manager of the Arrowwood complex, which includes Chase Lake.

“We don’t think they were killed. We think they abandoned their nest,” Hanson said Wednesday.

Officials suspect some kind of disturbance, human or animal, because some of the remaining birds appear more skittish than usual, Hanson said.