Outdoors

Pelicans’ paradise on Smith Island

BY ANDREA SACHS

The Washington Post

On a sunny mid-June afternoon with a tickling breeze, dozens of brown pelicans soared overhead like an avian Cirque du Soleil. Some birds carried nesting material in their comically long bills; others scanned the light chop for a meal. On shore, expectant parents tended to their eggs, standing as still as statues. While the performers swirled around him, Wes Bradshaw remembered a time when there were no pelicans on the Chesapeake Bay, a period that covered about three-quarters of the waterman’s life on Smith Island.

“I had seen pictures of them, but I didn’t see my first one till 24, 25 years ago,” the 77-year-old retired crabber said from inside the skiff he uses to transport guests to the island’s pelican rookery. “Now, I enjoy looking for them and seeing what they’re up to.”

The arrival of nesting East Coast brown pelicans on the Chesapeake Bay, the northernmost point in their spring migration, is an uplifting chapter in the often bleak tale of climate change and declining wildlife diversity. Though pelicans — and their deep throat pouches — have existed for at least 30 million years, they do not appear in the Eastern Shore’s historical records. Neither the region’s Native Americans nor English explorer John Smith, who mapped out the waterway in 1608, mention the prehistoric-looking bird.

“It’s a recent thing,” said Jim Rapp, an avid birder and conservationist who leads pelican tours on Smith Island with Delmarva Birding Weekends. “In 20 years, this place could look like Florida, bird-wise.”

On Smith Island, resident watermen such as Bradshaw will scoot visitors over to the colonies during high tide, when their vessels can inch close to the action. Delmarva Birding also organizes day-long excursions during peak weeks. The fee covers all water

Andrea Sachs

Nesting brown pelicans started to appear around the Chesapeake Bay about 25 years ago, having relocated from North Carolina’s Outer Banks.

If You Go

WHERE TO STAY

Smith Island Inn 20947 Caleb Jones Road, Ewell 410-689-9438, smithislandinn.com The Smith Island Inn rents three rooms in a restored Eastern Shore farmhouse, plus cottages, within walking distance of the main dock and the Smith Island Cultural Center. Guests have free use of canoes, kayaks and bikes.

WHAT TO DO

Delmarva Birding Weekends 443-614-0261, delmarvabirding.com The Maryland-based tour operator offers birding excursions around the Chesapeake Bay, such as Smith Island pelican tours. INFO: smithisland.org

transportation, including the roundtrip ride from Crisfield to Smith Island, plus a crab-cake lunch with a slice of pinstriped Smith Island cake, Maryland’s official dessert.

On a Thursday morning with ponderous clouds and rumbling thunder, our group boarded the Barbara Ann II from Crisfield. Captain John Asanovich was at the helm, and his first mate, Barry Chew, was everywhere else, zipping the plastic flaps when the rain started to fall, wiping off the wet seats when the sun peeked out and chasing a fly that had hitched a ride to the island. Our group’s primary motive was to see the brown pelicans.

“There’s a glossy ibis,” he exclaimed, followed by a tricolored heron, a night heron, another glossy ibis, a snowy egret, two bald eagles, an osprey and a great black-backed gull, the largest member of the gull family. “Pelican behind us!” he called out excitedly.

The pelican sightings became more frequent as we neared Ewell, the largest of Smith Island’s three villages.

(See SMITH 17)

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