Birds in Iowa - Spinning Wheel Got to go Round

Here's something you don't see every day. When I first laid eyes on this I could not make heads or tails of it. It's like someone put bird parts together at random then tried to roll the whole thing down a hill. What you are looking at is a pelican taking a sand bath. Yes, there's an entire pelican in there. The White Pelican is the largest bird you will see in Iowa, with a wingspread of 9 to 10 feet. They're huge. This photo was taken on the Des Moines River near Yellowbanks Park. You just never know what you'll see on Iowa rivers!

Photo courtesy Gerry Rowland