DATE: Monday, September 8, 1997             TAG: 9709080071

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B1   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY MARY REID BARROW 

        STAFF WRITER 

                                            LENGTH:  166 lines

MAKE WAY FOR THE PELICAN 10 YEARS AGOM THE SIGHT OF A BROWN PELICAN ANYWHERE ANYWHERE - IN THE WATER, OVERHEAD OR ON FISHERMAN'S ISLAND - WAS USUAL.

On Brian Petty's first day on the job, the Eastern Shore National Wildlife Refuge biology intern got an introduction to Virginia's beautiful brown pelicans that he will never forget.

The young man from Sterling, Va., went late this spring with refuge staff to Fisherman's Island on the tip of the Eastern Shore to count pelican nests. When they arrived, the adult birds lifted off the ground and Petty looked up to discover a sky beclouded by pelicans.

``There they were, all in the air,'' Petty said. ``There must have been hundreds of them overhead.''

And all around him in a scrubby dune area on the island were 2-foot-high pelican nests built of beach debris. Inside the nests were big, chalky white eggs or tiny naked chicks no bigger than your hand, the beginnings of another successful year for pelicans in Virginia.

That day, refuge staffers counted 770 pelican nests, a record number for Fisherman's Island. Although the big birds have been nesting there for less than a decade, the secluded island habitat is the main reason for pelicans' amazing emergence in the state.

Close encounters with pelicans, the likes of Petty's, may not occur in South Hampton Roads, but as the magnificent birds continue to establish themselves as a true Virginia species, pelicans are becoming more and more a part of local folks' lives.

Surfer Mike Cannon recently encountered a pelican that was almost too close for comfort. He was sitting astride his board on the ocean one morning when he heard a huge splash behind him.

``It startled me,'' Cannon said. ``When I turned around. I just saw the white water from the splash and, then I saw a pelican come up out of the water. It was only 15 feet away.''

The splash of a brown pelican can be an eye opener. With air sacs in their breasts to cushion the blow of crashing full speed ahead into the water, pelicans hit the ocean with great force. Unlike its relative, the larger white pelican, the brown pelican often dives for its dinner, plunging from 60 to 70 feet if it spies a fish.

Ten years ago, the sight of brown pelicans anywhere - in the water, overhead or on Fisherman's Island - was unusual. In 1988, refuge personnel recorded only three on the island.

Virginia Beach Audubon Society member Betsy Nugent remembers the day in the mid-1980s when she first heard that brown pelicans were in Virginia Beach. She was working as a volunteer at the Seashore State Park visitor center in Virginia Beach when someone called to report pelicans off the beach.

``I was thrilled,'' Nugent said.

She was excited that not only were the birds recovering from their devastating bout with the pesticide DDT, but that they had extended their range into Virginia. ``Now they are doing so well,'' she said.

Nugent says the birds' have established regular waterfront haunts, and she has begun seeing them on a Craney Island sand bar in Portsmouth, a favorite site for local bird-watchers.

``I wouldn't be surprised if they began nesting there,'' Nugent added.

Old Dominion University chemistry Professor Robert Ake, also a bird-watcher, agrees that pelicans could nest at Craney Island because they have also nested on dredge spoil islands in North Carolina. Ake, who saw two pelicans at the Beach in the 1970s, now sees pelicans along the Lafayette River and as far west as the Grandview section of Hampton, although in lesser numbers.

``To see a whole flight of pelicans flying in a line is a gorgeous thing, any time of night or day,'' Ake said. ``And to see a whole string of them sitting in a row is remarkable.''

Since those rare days when pelicans were first sighted in the area, the birds began making increasing numbers of forays into Virginia. Now it's not unusual for beach-goers to look up and see flocks of 40 or more of the birds soaring in unison. Or they might watch the birds fly low, playing follow the leader and tag with the waves.

Pelicans are said to rival eagles in their graceful, powerful flight. Surfer Cannon theorizes that pelicans know how to use the dynamics of a wave to glide effortlessly over the water by staying just in front of a swell.

``The swell is pushing air in front of it,'' Cannon said. ``And they get in front of the swell and real low to the water and just ride the air. They fly, kind of cocked sideways so the underside of their body is facing the wave.

``When they come to the end of that swell,'' he added, ``they'll fly up and away.''

Pelicans also are as familiar to boaters across Hampton Roads as gulls and terns. They can be found most days perched on the pound net poles off the Chesapeake Bay beach near Lynnhaven Inlet.

Although by December one or two pelicans might be seen on Fisherman's Island, folks near inland lakes may see them all winter. In mild years, some pelicans will stay at places like Mount Trashmore Lake in Virginia Beach.

Part of the reason for the birds' growing presence locally can be attributed to the growth of human development at some of the birds' traditional nesting grounds on the North Carolina Outer Banks. The birds had to seek new island nesting grounds, protected not only from people, but also from egg and chick predators like raccoons.

Fisherman's Island, operated under the auspices of the Eastern Shore National Wildlife Refuge, has become a prime nesting ground because it is open to people only for infrequent, guided walks. The island also is free of most predators.

Recently, Petty, on the last day of his internship, went back to the nesting grounds with volunteer Gary Williamson, who takes a monthly bird survey for the refuge. Only a few youngsters remained on the nests. So ugly that only a mother could love, the babes were skinny and white with down. Still the chicks stood, erect and stately, little imitations of adult birds.

Williamson estimated they saw 1,000 or more pelicans that day, even though many had dispersed to other areas by that time.

``You can really see some pelicans out here in the summertime,'' said Williamson whose regular job is head ranger at False Cape State Park in Virginia Beach.

That day, birds were everywhere - some on the nests, white heads showing above the scrub, some sedately standing on sand bars and on the beach and others gracefully flying overhead. Ungainly waddlers on the beach, only the pelicans' dignified ground stance, like guardsmen with their chins held in tight, kept them from being comical.

Eastern Shore National Wildlife Refuge records show that only three pelicans were recorded on the island in 1988. The next year, the birds began nesting there, building 34 of the grass and straw platforms.

Every year since, the number of nesters has grown. Now the birds are flying farther up the Eastern Shore and have even established a small nesting colony near Ocean City, Md.

Pelicans, it seems, have flown into our lives to stay. ILLUSTRATION: [Color Photos]

BIG BIRDS MAKE A BIG COMEBACK

D. KEVIN ELLIOTT photos/The Virginian-Pilot

Brown pelican chicks rest on a nest on Fisherman's Island off the

Eastern Shore. The island has become a prime breeding ground for the

birds - with nearly 800 nests counted there this past spring.

Brown pelicans can have wingspans of up to 7 1/2 feet.

Brown pelicans are thriving on Fisherman's Island because predators

are scarce and people are rarely allowed there. On a recent day, at

least 1,000 of the birds were estimated to be on the island.

D. KEVIN ELLIOTT

The Virginian-Pilot

PELICANS ON THE REBOUND IN HAMPTON ROADS

GRAPHIC

SOURCE: Fisherman Island National Wildlife Refuge

Photo by D. KEVIN ELLIOTT, graphic by ROBERT D. VOROS

The Virginian-Pilot

[For a copy of the graphic, see microfilm for this date.]

THE PELICAN, BRIEFLY

There are six pelican species in the world, two in the United

States. The brown pelican lives along the Southeast and West coasts

and the white frequents inland lakes, primarily in the West and

Midwest.

Pelicans are among the largest birds in the world. The brown has

a wingspan of up to 7 1/2 feet; the white, up to 9 1/2 feet.

Juvenile brown pelicans are lighter in color than adults. The

whitish head that has re-emerged on adults is one way of

distinguishing oldsters from youngsters.

Since 1991, one white pelican has been seen among the browns

during nesting season on Fisherman's Island. The same white

pelican, it appears, also has been sighted during several winters on

Mount Trashmore Lake and other lakes in Virginia Beach.

The limerick, ``A wonderful bird is the pelican, His bill will

hold more than his belican,'' speaks the truth, says the Audubon

Encyclopedia of North American Birds. The pelican's big skin pouch

is like a fishing net, scooping up a couple of gallons of water

along with fish. The water drains and prey is actually carried in

the bird's mouth, not its pouch.

Pelicans cool off by opening their mouths and pulsating their

pouch.

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