Pelicans spotted in Cootes Paradise

Snowbirds aren’t the only ones heading north at this time of year.

Five white pelicans, the big-beaked fish-eaters common in western Canada, are making an apparently unscheduled rest and feeding stop in Cootes Paradise.

Birder Cheryl Edgecombe says they were first seen and photographed from the Thomas B. McQuesten High-Level Bridge on York Boulevard Thursday.

Calling five “an impressive number to be seen,” she reported Friday that they could be seen near McMaster University from the Royal Botanical Gardens boardwalk on the north shore.