If you suddenly start seeing enormous white birds resting or feeding on Southwest Florida waters, winter has probably brought the American white pelicans back.

Healthy adult American white pelicans spend the breeding season much farther north and return to Florida and other Gulf Coast states for winter.

They are huge. FWC says their wingspan can reach about nine and a half feet, making them among North America’s largest birds.

Adults are mostly white, with reddish-orange or pink bills, legs and feet, while black flight feathers become obvious when the wings are spread.

Unlike Florida’s year-round brown pelicans, white pelicans do not normally plunge-dive headfirst for fish.

Watch the water instead. White pelicans often float together, dip their large bills and heads below the surface and may cooperate to herd fish into easier feeding positions.

In flight, they often soar high in groups or travel in formations, where the black wing tips contrast sharply with the otherwise white wings.

They can turn up on bays, estuaries, lakes, lagoons and other open waters during the cooler months.

Fishing line remains a serious hazard for pelicans. Discarded monofilament can entangle their bills, wings and feet, so anglers should retrieve line whenever it can be done safely and use proper line-disposal containers.

The seasonal takeaway: the giant white pelicans are one of Southwest Florida’s clearest signs that the winter bird season is arriving.