It didn't dawn on me until now that an American White Pelican that has been lingering at Ferril Lake in Denver City Park quite possibly was injured/grounded in that same violent and widely scattered May 30 hailstorm.
Visiting the park three days later, I took photos of two pelicans on separate perches at the lake.
(A pair, but sometimes one or even three or four, had been intermittent visitors for several weeks.)
Looking back now at my June 2 pix, I had not noticed how one of the pelicans, hunched on a familiar rock perch on the east edge of Ferril Lake's island, was holding its left wing unnaturally low.
Several days later, while out of state, I got a message from another birder asking where she could report an injured pelican in the park.
She was still trying to generate a response when I got back to town last week.
She said city parks, state wildlife folks and rescue groups apparently were saying if the bird could swim it would be difficult if not impossible to catch.
When I went out last Tuesday, the day after I returned, I realized the extent of the pelican's injury.
Standing on the lakeshore, it tried to spread its wings, but only the right one stretched out; the left wing moved but a few inches.
The wing doesn't appear unnaturally torn or tattered, or with any obvious wound.
It's hard to imagine that such a huge bird could have sustained this flight-grounding injury any other way.
But two and a half weeks since the storm, the pelican appears to be functioning, if not flying.
It perches in 2 or 3 spots around the lake, and on Sunday was swimming around, presumably fishing.
Meanwhile, this year's dramatically smaller population of nesting Double-crested Cormorants at City Park's other major water body, Duck Lake, has perhaps 75 or more nestlings, branchlings and a few fledglings now.
It's possible there were hailstorm casualties there, too, though nothing is readily apparent.
I'll look more closely there on my next visit.
Patrick O'Driscoll
Denver