Tourists seeking warmer weather aren’t the only ones wintering in Arizona.

An increasingly common sight from Avondale to Tucson are the American white pelicans, normally seen in coastal waters around Mexico and California. These large clumsy birds normally migrate to Great Salt Lake and the west coast of Mexico, but hurricane storms, mild temperatures, and man made lakes & ponds stocked with fish have made Arizona a desirable stopover.

The pelicans typically head to their breeding grounds in Canada and Upper Midwest in March, but more are expected to migrate to the Phoenix area in winter months.

Even the more ‘out of place’ brown pelicans have been found to escape coastal storms and enjoy Arizona’s mild climate.

We saw these brown and white pelicans hanging out enjoying ‘chilling’ in the waters of Alamo Lake. They seemed out of place in AZ, but apparently are becoming more commonplace, as they too find being a snowbird in AZ has its advantages.