Late winter and early spring is a great time to look for pelicans, particularly at the Red Rock dam near Pella Iowa. You’ll find some eagles here too but as the weather begins to warm, the pelicans start to out number them. Sometimes you still get those crisp, cold days, with what I always called winter skies. Contrasting clouds coupled with splotches of cool blue skies…nothing makes a better backdrop for a pelican on a late afternoon flight. See that large horn on the birds beak? That’s a pelican that is moving into the breeding season. By mid to late summer, these caruncles, as they are officially called, will fall off once the mating season ends.