This morning while out with the killer Chihuahua for her morning deer bark I observed an adult Brown Pelican in alternate plumage preening on the pilings on the Potomac River side of Point Lookout. This completes another year of sightings at Point Lookout of this species. For 4 of the last 5 years I have seen Brown Pelican(s) in all 12 months of the year. Some birds were lost this winter when the "freeze" hit this area and nearly 65-70 birds were in danger of starving or succumbing to the elements. I'm not sure if feeding of the birds by local waterman had any effect of them hanging around as we usually see some numbers here anyway. There was some concern from some sources that this contributed to to the demise of several birds during the cold snap. The Brown Pelicans we get at Point Lookout as far as I know breed on Virginia's portion of the Smith Island complex about 16 miles across the Bay from Point Lookout. There may also be Brown Pelicans from the breeding flock on Spring Island which is in Maryland and north of Smith Island. Any comments would be appreciated.
Marty Cribb 
Point Lookout
St Mary's Co., MD