2026 Smith Island Pelican Tours
Our July and August 2025 trips were fabulous — thanks to everyone who joined us!
During our July 7-11 and August 6 Smith Island Pelican Tours, we observed pelican chicks as young as 2-3 weeks old up to 12-14 weeks old. For photos from trips, please visit:
- the DBW Facebook page
- this post from our friends at Birding/Pictures from our July 8 trip
- this blog post from our friend Preeti Desai from our July 10 trip
If you are interested in joining us on a pelican tour in 2026 and you wish to add your name to the interest list, please email dmvbirds@gmail.com with your name and the number in your party.
Please read everything on this web page to make certain that you understand how this trip is managed. The 2026 cost will likely be $345/person. Most of this money stays on Smith Island with our boat captains and restaurants.
Tours begin and end in Crisfield, MD. Each tour includes an all-day large boat charter, ~two-hour small boat charters at high tide to view nesting pelicans near the village of Ewell and nesting herons and egrets at the Glenn L. Martin National Wildlife Refuge just north of Ewell, lunch at the Drum Point Market and Eatery in the village of Tylerton, a guide, and a visit to the Smith Island Cultural Center.
We would love to open registration for these summer tours many months in advance, but the unpredictable nature of nesting Brown Pelicans does not allow this. This is the only tour we operate where participants have an expectation of observing a bird species (Brown Pelicans) exhibiting a behavior (nesting) at a location (Smith Island). We do not open registration until we are certain that the Brown Pelicans are nesting within a 15-20 minute boat ride from the villages of Ewell or Tylerton on Smith Island. If the pelicans do not select a nesting site close to the villages, then we will not run these tours.
Each year, the Brown Pelicans arrive in April and May and choose the locations for their nesting colonies. In 2024, they did not settle on locations that had been previously used in 2023 and years prior. In 2024 and 2025, the pelican nesting colonies were established near the village of Ewell, a location that they had never used before. We will not know where the pelicans will nest in 2026 until we hear from our friends on Smith Island.
After the birds have settled and nesting begins, the pelican chicks usually begin to hatch by mid-June. Please note that all eggs do not hatch on the same day. When we visit the nesting colonies, we may discover some nests with eggs and some nests with chicks 3 to 4 weeks old. We typically run our tours from mid-June through mid-July. There is always the chance that the nests may be wiped out due to a spring or summer storm and the associated high tides. If this happens early enough during nesting season, the pelicans should re-nest.
Our Captains and Boats
In 2026, we will be working with Capt. Allen Parks from nearby Tangier Island, VA. His boat, the Elizabeth Joy II, is a 41″ long 14′ wide Maine lobster boat that Capt. Allen has expertly restored to run charter tours to both Smith Island and Tangier Island. Here is a YouTube video taken in May 2025 that is a short virtual tour of the boat. In June 2025, The Elizabeth Joy II was certified by the U.S. Coast Guard to run charter tours.
The Elizabeth Joy II will depart from Somers Cove Marina in Crisfield, MD for the ride out to Smith Island. Once we arrive, we will spend some time birding and exploring the villages of Ewell and Tylerton, and we will enjoy lunch at the Drum Point Market and Eatery. We time our visit to the nesting colonies around high tide, as the small boats we charter to visit the pelicans need a few feet of water to operate. On dates with an early high tide, we will visit the pelicans first. When the high tide is in the afternoon, we will visit the pelicans later in the day. Our small boat charter captains will be Eddie Corbin, Mark Kitching and Craig Evans.
Please note that tours are subject to cancellations, and full refunds will be provided if we cancel a tour due to dangerous weather or if our charter is unable to run. We will run the tour if it rains, so please dress for the weather.
We will do our best to give you the date you select, but if a trip fills, we may need to add you to another tour. We may run additional tours after mid-July if there is interest. Your trip will be confirmed after we receive your payment.
2025 Tour Dates (2026 dates will not be set until May/June)
Monday, July 7, 8:00 am – 4:00 pm (high tide was 11:23 am)
44 species tallied.
Tuesday, July 8, 8:00 am – 4:00 pm (high tide was 12:12 pm)
39 species tallied.
Wednesday, July 9, 8:00 am – 4:00 pm (high tide was 12:56 pm)
39 species tallied.
Thursday, July 10, 8:00 am – 4:00 pm (high tide was 1:38 pm)
39 species tallied.
Friday, July 11, 8:00 am – 4:00 pm (high tide was 2:19 pm)
38 species tallied.
Wednesday, August 6, 8:00 am – 4:00 pm (high tide was 11:38 am)
45 species tallied.
Updates from Smith Island Pelican Tours in 2024
Read below about the status of the Brown Pelican nesting colonies during our Summer 2024 tours. Each year is different — we certainly hope the pelicans return to Smith Island in 2025!
Pelican tour report for July 19, 2024: The two Brown Pelican colonies near the Village of Ewell have a range of young birds. Some young looked to be 7-8 weeks old and there were many 2-3 week old chicks. Other nests still had eggs or newly-hatched chicks. We also visited a nesting colony of herons, egrets and ibis in the Glenn L. Martin NWR that included Great Egret, Tricolor Heron, Little Blue Heron, Glossy Ibis, Yellow-crowned Night-Heron and Black-crowned Night Heron. Check out the eBird Trip Report (36 species) from the July 19 tour.
Pelican tour report for June 24-25-26, 2024: The two Brown Pelican colonies near the Village of Ewell have a range of young birds. Some young looked to be 4-5 weeks old, while other nests still had eggs or newly-hatched chicks. We also visited a nesting colony of herons, egrets and ibis in the Glenn L. Martin NWR that included Great Egret, Tricolor Heron, Little Blue Heron, Glossy Ibis, Yellow-crowned Night-Heron and Black-crowned Night Heron. Check out the eBird Trip Report (39 species) from the June 26 tour.
Pelican tour report for June 19, 2024: The two Brown Pelican colonies near the Village of Ewell have a range of young birds. Some young looked to be 3-4 weeks old, while other nests still had eggs or newly-hatched chicks. We also visited a nesting colony of herons, egrets and ibis in the Glenn L. Martin NWR that included Great Egret, Tricolor Heron, Little Blue Heron, Glossy Ibis, Yellow-crowned Night-Heron and Black-crowned Night Heron. Check out the eBird Trip Report (39 species) from the June 19 tour.
Pelican tour report for June 7, 2024: Our Smith Island friends have reported hatchlings at the new Brown Pelican nesting colony near the jetty by the village of Ewell. Pelican chicks take ~70 days to fledge, so hopefully there will be young on the nests through July. We’ll run tours into July if there is interest. Book your trip today before tour season ends!
Pelican tour report for May 22, 2024: Still no pelicans at our usual nesting locations at Shanks and Drum Point. We’ll be talking with our Smith Island friends this week about starting up tours in late June, and we’ll visit the new Brown Pelican nesting colony near the jetty by the village of Ewell. More info soon!
Pelican tour report for May 17, 2024: Thanks for your patience as we plan for our 2024 tour season. We typically begin our tours in mid-June and run through early July. Recently, our Smith Island skiff captains toured the sites known as Shanks and Drum Point, where the Brown Pelicans nested in 2023. As of Friday, May 17, no pelicans have started nesting at Shanks or Drum Point. There is a new colony that has started to nest near the village of Ewell on Smith Island. The lack of pelicans at Shanks and Drum Point may have something to do with recent high tides and chilly May weather.
Click these links for more information:
Thanks again for your interest in these tours. We look forward to visiting Smith Island and the Brown Pelicans with you in Summer 2025!