When you think of a pelican, the first thing that probably pops into your mind is “Florida.”

Certainly that’s a place where one can see brown pelicans along the shores throughout that state. American white pelicans, too, can be seen in Florida, but they just come for the winter and tend to be more likely seen in freshwater lakes and marshes rather than on salt water like their brown pelican cousins.

So when someone photographed an American white pelican on the rocky coast of Maine recently, people took notice.

For a few days in early September, an American white pelican graced several coves south of Thomaston, and many birders made the trip to get a look at this surprising visitor. American white pelicans are actually very accomplished migrants, some nesting as far as the southern part of the Northwest Territories and migrating to the southern United States, Mexico, and even occasionally as far south as Panama.

Watching a flock of American white pelicans soaring high up in the sky, the black wingtips contrasting with their gleaming white bodies and wings, is a sight that is not soon forgotten.

Here in Maine, sightings of American white pelicans seem to be on the rise. In fact, another American white pelican has spent weeks on a lake in northern Maine this late summer. A few winters ago there was even a small group of American white pelicans photographed on Damariscove Island, off Boothbay; hopefully, they headed to Florida soon afterward.

This trend toward increasing sightings in our area appears to be a broader continental trend, with American white pelicans roaming around up north along the shores of Hudson Bay in northern Manitoba and various parts of the northeastern U.S. and eastern Canada. This may be a reflection of their populations rebounding from their lows in the pre-1970s DDT era.

During the nesting season, American white pelicans are also very sensitive to disturbance at their breeding colonies that are usually located on an island within their normal breeding range in the northern Great Plains and Canada. When a colony is disturbed, birds sometimes abandon it together, spreading out and looking for another place to nest or just giving up that year and wandering around until the migratory urge sends them south.

If populations continue increasing (largely in response to efforts to keep their aquatic environments clean and their colonies undisturbed) then Maine will likely continue to host at least occasional White pelican visitors.

The brown pelican, on the other hand, continues to be a much rarer species in Maine, with only a handful of records so far. But they too are increasing and being seen more frequently in Massachusetts. Perhaps it will become a bird to watch for here as well.

Brown or white, a pelican is a hard bird to mistake for anything else. It’s probably an easy bird to photograph even with your cell phone!

If you find one, let us know!

Dr. Jeff Wells is the senior scientist for the Boreal Songbird Initiative. During his time at the famed Cornell Lab of Ornithology and as the Audubon Society's national bird conservation director, Dr. Wells earned a reputation as one of the nation's leading bird experts and conservation biologists. Jeff's grandfather, the late John Chase, was a columnist for the Boothbay Register for many years. Allison Childs Wells, also formerly of the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, is a widely published natural history writer and a senior director at the Natural Resources Council of Maine. Together, they have been writing and teaching people about birds for decades. The Maine natives are authors of the highly acclaimed book, “Maine's Favorite Birds.”