Hi Everyone,

The counting was a little slow at Bayside at Assateague this morning (12 Nov 2010).  But on the way back to school, Lauren Hendley and I stopped at Skimmer Island to see if the Marbled Godwits were still around.  No luck there--the water was very high, and we only saw 2 Sanderlings and 2 Ruddy Turnstones on the island.

I had just put my scope into the car to leave (at about 11:15 am) when a very large white bird caught our eyes.  Next thing we knew, we were watching an AMERICAN WHITE PELICAN flying north into the wind low over the roof of Hooper's.  I managed to get a couple photos with my puny point-and-shoot camera that I keep in the trunk.  When I zoom the speck in the bright blue sky, the shape and color pattern of an American White Pelican are just barely discernible.

We had the bird in view for about a minute probably as it worked against the wind.  I had just set up my tripod for digiscoping when the bird dipped out of view to the north.  We checked West OC Pond to see if it may have paused there, but it had not.  Plenty of waterfowl diversity at West OC Pond, including the first few Tundra Swans of the season.

Have fun,

Ron Gutberlet
Salisbury, MD