At about 2:45 p.m. today (Saturday, July 17) I was outside in my yard at home in Hampton, TN. David Thometz was with me, and he noticed a soaring bird and asked me if it was a hawk. I could tell with the naked eye the bird, soaring very high, was not a hawk or vulture. I thought it might possibly be a heron, so I went inside to get my binoculars. Back outside, I focused my binoculars on an unmistakable American White Pelican. The pelican continued to soar in wide circles. The huge size and black and white patterns were impossible to miss as well as the yellow-orange pelican bill. I also alerted my parents. My mother managed to get her own look through her binoculars, but my father never managed to get a look at the pelican in binoculars. After soaring for several minutes, the pelican veered off, heading east along the Simerly Creek valley. I have seen White Pelicans in Florida and Idaho and Dave Thometz has seen them in Utah and Idaho. I never imagined one would be a fly-over at my home. Bryan Stevens, Hampton, TN ************************************************* BRISTOL BIRDS NET LIST Bristol Birds Net Photo Gallery located at: http://f2.pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/jwcoffeyy/album?.dir=/efd5 This is a regional birding list sponsored by the Bristol Bird Club to facilitate communications between birders and bird clubs of Southwest Virginia and Northeast Tennessee. -------------------------------------------------- You are subscribed to Bristol-Birds. To post to this mailing list, simply send an email to: bristol-birds@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx To unsubscribe, send an email to bristol-birds-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx with the one word 'unsubscribe' in the Subject field. -------------------------------------------------- Wallace Coffey, Moderator wallace@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx (423)764-****