“Load of White Pelicans”, Blue Ridge Community College, Flat Rock, NC, October 28, 2020

On the morning of 10/26 there was a post on the Blue Ridge Birders text group summarizing a third-hand report of a White Pelican on Lake Tahoma near Marion, NC.  That was just a bit over an hour away so I thought about chasing after it, but it was just a third-hand report after all.  Then when a follow-up post at lunchtime confirmed that the bird was still there, I decided to give it a try.  When I arrived at Lake Tahoma I wasn’t too surprised to find very limited access to view this private lake.  But with a little effort, I was able to view almost all of the lake.  Unfortunately, despite lots of stops, I couldn’t come up with the Pelican.  On my drive back home I thought that I might just need to wait for this species to show up closer to home.

And that’s exactly what happened just two days later.  The 28th was a rainy, windy day, and late that afternoon this text from Vicky Burke came across the Blue Ridge Birders text group - “Omg!!! There is a load of white pelican on Blue Ridge Community College lake!!!!!”  Vicky works at the college, and apparently a co-worker noticed this flock of large white birds swimming on this small campus lake, bringing them to Vicky’s attention.  Within 2 minutes I was out the door and heading to the college.

This was my view as I pulled up to this small lake just a few minutes later.

There was another person there when I arrived, a non-birder, marveling at this flock of 35 American White Pelicans.  Truly an amazing site!

Apparently the inclement weather associated with a cold front had forced them down while they were migrating over the area.  And the bad weather conditions continued the next day as remnants of Tropical Storm Zeta passed through the area.  But typical for grounded migrants, the entire flock moved on as soon as the weather improved.  One birder was lucky enough to spot the flock flying over the interstate as they headed out to continue on with their migration.

That was #307 for my NC state list.  And NC was my 9th state where I’ve seen American White Pelican as a rarity per the range maps in the Sibley guides – the tan states in my statebird map below.  This species is a regular vagrant throughout almost all of the eastern portion of US, and of course it can be quite obvious when it is around.  I’ve also seen White Pelican throughout its regular range in the central and western states (the blue states below).