One Jefferson City visitor is causing quite a splash at Binder Lake. A brown pelican, first spotted May 29, seems to have taken up residence hundreds of miles from its native range.
"One of the local birders here was out there checking the lake for birds of any kind and saw the brown pelican. Then he posted it on a statewide Internet discussion group," said Jim Rathert, a retired Missouri Department of Conservation wildlife photographer and nature enthusiast who has visited the lake to see the bird himself.
"They're saltwater birds. For them to come inland is pretty unusual," Rathert said.