I Grew Up in Iowa and This Is My Favorite Way to Celebrate Spring

I grew up in Iowa, and I recall many ways that we welcomed the end of winter: watching the Hawkeyes in the NCAA tournament (often); looking for the blooming of Dutchmen's breeches; and after a little rain and a couple of warm days, hunting for elusive morels in the hardwood forests and river bottoms of eastern Iowa. What I always looked forward most, though - absent seeing the Hawkeyes in the Final Four (rare) - was the return of American white pelicans to the area. To this day, it continues to be one of the main reasons that spring is just about my favorite time to visit Iowa.

I remember the first time my Dad took me to see them - hundreds of them - circling in the air and swimming on the surface of the Iowa River in Iowa City (nonobvious names were not always a strong suit of my homeland), and I was dumbfounded. Pelicans? In Iowa?! In my head, I'd always thought of pelicans as birds that only lived near oceans and that I would see in movies or on television. But they were here, and they were huge. To this day, I'm still amazed at the size of these birds when I get a chance to see them.

The average wingspan of an American white pelican comes in at around eight feet, and an adult can weigh anywhere from 10 to 20 pounds. For reference, that is much larger than a bald eagle. Yet, when they fly, they glide in these mesmerizing, lazy circular patterns that seem way too graceful for their awkward-looking shapes (must be the long wings!). They spend much of the year, as I thought, along the coasts, but they move northward and inland to breed and nest.

In Iowa, large numbers of the birds nest on islands in the Mississippi River and shallow wetlands. Many also make their way up the Iowa River corridor and nest on Lake Macbride and the Coralville Reservoir. Last time I was in the area to see the pelicans, I caught hundreds of them near the old Iowa River dam in Coralville, looping languidly overhead and swimming in the turbulent water below the dam, scooping up unsuspecting fish. Spring is a great time to see them, as is their return migration in the late summer. In fact, the Iowa City Bird Club regularly hosts a Pelican Festival in the summer at the Coralville Reservoir.

Despite their large size, you'll definitely want a good pair of binoculars when you go looking for the pelicans - especially once they've settled in post-migration. They tend to nest and hunt in places that aren't always near the most accessible parts of the area's shorelines - just catch them before they leave: Pelicans in Iowa are really a sight to behold!

What's your favorite way to welcome spring in Iowa? We'd love to hear all about it.