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Gunnison Island
isDK

Gunnison Island

Gunnison Island

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The entire island is the Gunnison Island State Wildlife Management Area. A rookery for the American white pelican.
The population on Gunnison Island (about 10,000) constitutes about 1020% of the entire American white pelican population. Access to the island is restricted to prevent curious tourists from disturbing the nesting birds.
The remoteness of the island forces the pelicans to travel 30 miles or more to find fresh water and food. The pelicans typically fly east to the Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge, where the Bear River flows into the Great Salt Lake. In the bird refuge, the water's salinity is low enough that fish can live there. (The Great Salt Lake contains no fish.)
In the mid-1890s, a few enterprising individuals decided to harvest and sell the abundant guano that the nesting birds left behind as fertilizer. The mining activity caused the birds to temporarily abandon Gunnison Island as a nesting site.
Because of the difficulty of obtaining the guano, however, and its tendency to dissolve in the rain and wash back into the Great Salt Lake, the guano industry was abandoned about ten years after it began.
Wonderful photos! Love the the blue and brown color combination! In Florida I only see the brown pelicans fishing in the Gulf.
 
glad that the pelicans have returned to their island! awesome photos - and I love the color combination!
 
Fascinating...I never pictured Pelicans in Utah! Love your reflective photos! Excellent layout, DK!
 

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