An American White Pelican was spotted  last week on one of the rocks in the Rock Island chain north of Gaspee Point. The bird was first reported to the Beacon by Bill Aldrich who forwarded this photo taken by Jerry Montvilo. We contacted Hope Foley at the Audubon Society of Rhode Island who reached out to Dr. Charles Clarkson, director of Audubon avian research who provided this report: “The American White Pelican (Pelecanus erythrorhynchos) is a species distributed mainly throughout western North America and along the Gulf Coast and in Mexico during the nonbreeding season. Unlike the smaller Brown Pelican (Pelecanus occidentalis), the American White Pelican is found principally inland where it breeds in colonies on predator-free islands located in freshwater lakes. Throughout much of its range, the population of white pelicans has been increasing, with most of this increase occurring within the United States (Sauer et al. 2003). Although a rare visitor outside of its traditional breeding and nonbreeding range, records of American White Pelicans in eastern Canada and the Northeastern United States do occur.” Might our visitor have had a premonition about Hurricane Ian?