“Oh, a wondrous bird is the pelican!
His bill holds more than his belican.”
– Dixon Lanier Merritt
“Outback Pelicans” looks into the mystery of a mass-migration of pelicans to the Australian outback, one of the driest places on the hottest and driest continent on the planet. In years of heavy rainfall, dried-up river beds fill with water and flow inland to create an oasis in the scorching heart of the desert. Abandoning the sea, pelicans leave their coastal homes and journey more than a thousand miles inland to Lake Eyre to feast on an abundance of fish and brine shrimp. The bounty of the lake provides a perfect place to breed and raise their families, even in the middle of one of the most inhospitable places on Earth. But much about their lives and their journey remains a mystery that researchers are only now beginning to unravel.
“Outback Pelicans” airs on WGBY Sunday, March 27, 2011 at 8pm and is part of the 29th season of Nature. Check out this preview here:
Nature’s website is also jam-packed with video enhanced lesson plans for teachers. Check it out here.