…is alive and well in The Villages.  I had mentioned them in one of my more recent blogs, and was determined to find them and get some pictures.  More easily said than done.  I was on Rio Grande and spotted them in the lake by Chula Vista, however did not have my camera.  When I got home I mentioned to Sean that I really wanted to get pictures and they were in the lake nearby.  We hopped in the golf cart and beelined back to the lake where I had seen them, and to our disappointment, they were gone.  We decided to check the water behind Freedom Point as they are there sometimes, and on our way checked Lake Mira Mar, where there were hundreds of egrets and seagulls, having their afternoon snack.  There were quite a few people pulling up with bags of bread and from the behavior of the birds, this must be a daily happening.  However, there were no pelicans to be seen.  We gave up our hunt and thought a Dunkin Donuts coffee would be in order, however Sean mentioned Ollie’s Frozen Custard, just as it was crossing my mind too.  Ollie’s won by a majority vote.  After thoroughly enjoying our treat and with the guilt starting to set in, we headed back home.  To our surprise we found a small group of pelicans in the pond behind Freedom Point.  I took some pictures and we sat and watched them for awhile.  The white pelican does not take a flying dive for its’ food, rather they swim around and feed in groups and stick their bills in the water to look for schools of fish.  When they find a school the entire group all stick their bills and heads in at one time and keep them underwater while they feed, which is quite something to see.  We headed on home and took the recreational cart path at the Hacienda Country Club, which winds adjacent to the golf course and passes a few small ponds.  We came around one corner, to our surprise,  there was another flock.  It was much larger and it had to have had over 100 birds.  I tried to get as close as I could but they started swimming away.  I wish I was a better photographer, as it is hard to see how big they really are.  They are 5’2″ long and have a wing span of 8′  You can see some black under their wings when they fly. They rest on sandbars, they do not fly up into trees.   Their range is the Florida peninsula, on inland lakes, from Sept. to April.  I had read a few years ago about white Pelicans that migrated from lakes in Wisconsin, so I’m quite sure that is where these go for the summer. I think you would have to agree that that is what you would call a  real snowbird.