Prime Hook 11/10--American White Pelican

On the last day of the trip we did some "clean up" birding at Chincoteague then started the drive north. Our first stop in Delaware was Prime Hook, a favorite of ours, and here the last new bird for the trip was not one I would ever need help with.

Out at the end of the road to Fowler Beach are a couple of concrete structures and atop those structures birds roost.  Scott wandered down the beach and came back to get his scope. He didn't want to say to soon what he thought he saw, so as the group followed, various possibilities were offered to him, all of which he shot down. But Shari knew. She could see the big white blob on the roof, sitting with the cormorants, and when Scott put the American White Pelican in the scope, she wasn't surprised. At first, it head its head tucked in to its feathers and while we knew what it was, it wasn't much to look at. But then it straightened up and its huge orange bill came out for display and you have to say, that is one impressive looking bird. The day before we'd seen Brown Pelicans at one of our stops--they look like big birds until you compare them to the white species which dwarfs them. 

46 species
Canada Goose  125
American Black Duck  2
Mallard  20
Hooded Merganser  35
Ruddy Duck  30
Pied-billed Grebe  1
Double-crested Cormorant  20
American White Pelican  1     
Great Blue Heron  8
Black-crowned Night-Heron  1     Fowler Beach
Black Vulture  1
Turkey Vulture  3
Northern Harrier  3
Sharp-shinned Hawk  2
Bald Eagle  2
Red-tailed Hawk  1
American Coot  12
Black-bellied Plover  4
Killdeer  1     Heard, Fowler Beach
Greater Yellowlegs  25
Lesser Yellowlegs  8

Greater & Lesser Yellowlegs comparison
Photo: Shari Zirlin

Ruddy Turnstone  1
Sanderling  3
Dunlin  500
Laughing Gull  5
Ring-billed Gull  10
Forster's Tern  15
Royal Tern  1
Mourning Dove  15
Belted Kingfisher  1
Red-bellied Woodpecker  1     Heard
Downy Woodpecker  1
American Kestrel  1
Tree Swallow  1
Carolina Chickadee  1     Heard
Carolina Wren  1     Heard
Hermit Thrush  1     Heard
Brown Thrasher  1     Heard
Northern Mockingbird  3
European Starling  200
Song Sparrow  1     Heard
Swamp Sparrow  1
White-throated Sparrow  10
Dark-eyed Junco  3
Boat-tailed Grackle  10
Brown-headed Cowbird  200