Day 32: American White Pelican

Hooray for one month down of blogging! I have to admit, I initially wasn't sure I could keep it up every single day. It hasn't always been easy, but I've grown to love it and hope I can get enough pictures to make it the full year.

Last weekend on our trip to the eastern shore of Maryland, our last stop before heading home was at the Blackwater National Wildlife Refuge. This is a wonderful place to see all different kinds of marsh and woodland birds. This is always the place where we've gotten our best views of Bald Eagles.

Our main reason for stopping at Blackwater was to look for American White Pelicans. These birds live mainly in the western and southern parts of North America. They typically breed as far north as western Canada. Maryland is not in the usual range of American White Pelicans, but a group has been wintering at Blackwater for the past several years.

Jared was the first to spot the pelicans, which looked like big white blobs a distance off in the water. Luckily, the road took us a little closer to the group of birds, but we still weren't able to get close enough for great pictures.

The American White Pelican is a big bird: its wingspan is nine feet! Unlike Brown Pelicans, they don't dive, but they fish, bobbing to the surface of the water to capture small fish in their large bills. American White Pelicans often work together, beating their wings on the water to drive small fish into shallow waters.

Here's a good, close photo of an American White Pelican (not our photo):

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