[MDOsprey] White Pelican (17 Sep PM - 20 Sep AM)

SSUTER (ssuter@aaas.org)
Mon, 20 Sep 1999 10:28:41 -0400


     The White Pelican remains on the Potomac River in the vicinity of the 
     Wilson Bridge.  Friday evening (17 Sep: 1920-1940) it was on the flats 
     S of the GW Parkway Bridge over Hunting Creek (near the S end of the 
     shallows that extend S from Hunting Towers Apts towards the Belle 
     Haven picnic grounds; these are on the river side of the creek's 
     channel).
     
     It was in the same area Sat morning.  Several observers reported it 
     between 9 AM and 1030 (evidently moving south as the morning 
     progressed) and it was close to the picnic grounds around 1230.
     
     When I returned late Sunday afternoon, the pelican was on the snag 
     just N of the Wilson Bridge (at 1735).  And I did not see it off the 
     mouth of Hunting Creek when I counted shorebirds and larids there 
     after 1900.
     
     On my ride in this morning, I could not spot the bird from the foot of 
     Jones Point Rd 0710 to 0715 (although the snags were not directly into 
     the sun and it was easy to count the cormorants on them).  But when I 
     looked back towards the bridge from the foot of Wolfe St, the pelican 
     was again perched on the snag.  So it may have been swimming close to 
     the bridge itself, or just off to the south.  (There were large 
     numbers of Great Egrets S of the bridge and along or close to the MD 
     shore.)
     
     Cheers and good birds,
     
     Sherman Suter
     Alexandria, VA 22307
     ssuter@aaas.org