Call it a natural solution to an unnatural problem.
After making a splash on the international stage, an estimated 3,000 to 4,000 goldfish at Boulder’s Teller Lake No. 5 appear to be gone — and pelicans are being credited for the disappearing act.
“Isn’t it fantastic?” Colorado Parks and Wildlife spokeswoman Jennifer Churchill said Tuesday. “It has totally happened naturally.”
The presence of the non-native species at the 12-acre lake just south of Valmont Road, likely exploding from an original handful dumped there a few years ago, had alarmed state wildlife biologists who feared the damage they could likely do to its ecosystem.
The first plan announced earlier this month was to shock the fish with electrical currents and collect them for feeding time at a raptor rehabilitation facility. Then, there was talk about possibly having to drain the lake, to rid it of the fish.
All the while, news of the unusual predicament had become late-night fodder for Comedy Central and a news story reaching overseas.
But Colorado Parks and Wildlife personnel were at the lake Tuesday with trap-nets, sampling the fish population, to get a better handle on its fish census.
Their results: 26 green sunfish, two largemouth bass, 10 painted turtles and 18 tiger salamanders.
“However, it appears that pelicans have made quick work of most of the goldfish, so we don’t need to do anything,” Churchill wrote in an email.
Wildlife biologists “observed pelicans scooping up the fish and found some goldfish that had been regurgitated and beat up.”
“They observed only four goldfish from the boat. This problem took care of itself; what few goldfish that remain will likely get eaten by the bass or birds.”
Some might be surprised to hear pelicans, commonly associated with seashores, credited as a player in a Colorado wildlife equation.
But the Sibley Guide to Birds shows the American white pelican (wingspan, 108 inches) with a summer range encompassing much of the American west and Rocky Mountain states extending north into Canada with a migratory range more broad than that.
From as many as 4,000 down to four — or even four or 40 — in a few weeks’ time, Churchill agreed, was impressive.
“I imagine they have good eyes and saw those fish from above,” Churchill said of the big birds. “We haven’t ever really experienced this before, so this might be a nice environmentally sound solution” for such situations in the future.
Strategic placement of rehabilitated pelicans for just such a purpose could be discussed at the next meeting of state aquatic biologists, she said.
“CPW informed OSMP about this development earlier today, and we’re just grateful for the work they did to help us address this issue and for all their work to manage wildlife in the state of Colorado,” said Phillip Yates, spokesman for Boulder’s Open Space and Mountain Parks department.
“All’s well that ends well,” Churchill added.
Charlie Brennan: 303-473-1327, brennanc@dailycamera.com or twitter.com/chasbrennan
