Covehead Harbour, a large white bird, bigger than an adjacent Great Blue Heron, attracted his attention. He immediately recognized it as a American White Pelican, a bird only delisted from the Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada's Endangered Species List in 1987. As Geoff put it, "It was the birding thrill of a lifetime". . '

The American White Pelican breeds from Wood Buffalo National Park to V southern California and from southeastern Manitoba to Central Alberta. While they have been sighted before in New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, and Newfoundland, this is the first known record for Prince Edward Island. ‘

PIPING PLOVER RECOVERY TEAM MEETS by.Dan McAskill

The Natural History Society sent 2 delegates to the Atlantic Piping Plover Recovery Team meeting on October 24 and 25 in sackville, N.B. to present the findings of the Society's summer project on the Piping Plover. At .the meeting, they joined Charlie Ristau of the P.E.I. National Park, representatives of the Canadian Wildlife Service, the N.S. Department of Natural Resources, the N.B. Department of Natural Resources, Mines, and Energy, the U.S..Fish and Wildlife Service, and organizations from the Magdalen Islands.and Miscou. I ' - _ - '

' The preliminary totals of the canadian portion of the Atlantic section of the Piping Plover population suggest that the decline in Piping Plover has been stopped. In Prince Edward Island the stopping of the decline is the direct result of the protection efforts of the P.E.I. National Park. The success of nesting pairs outside the park this past summer was only 0.6 young fledged per pair while the Piping Plover in the park, because of the intensive protection program, were able to fledge approximately 1.4 young per pair.

After considering the preliminary reports on the International Census and the reports of the participants on monitoring, studies, and education _ efforts, the Canadian Piping Plover Recovery Plan was reviewed in detail. A number of changes were made in the plan and these will be presented to the 'Prairie Piping Plover Recovery Team in the near future. ’ * . .

The following abstract will provide the members of the Society with a summary of the Society's 1991 Environment Week Project. This report will be published in the near future.

ABSTRACT 1 Population Estimates, EduCation Initiatives, and Surveys of Public Awareness on the Piping Plover on Prince Edward Island, 1991 by Dan McAskill and Ben Hoteling. . ‘

The Natural History Society of Prince Edward Island Ltd. (NHSPEI), supported by funds from an Environment Week grant, conducted the Prince Edward» Island Section of the 1991 International Piping Plover (Charadrius melodus) _ Census, public awareness surveys, an educational program, a landowner contact program, and a Piping Plover workshop during the summer of 1991..

In order to accomplish as accurate a census as possible, the P.E.I. Section of the.Internationavaensus was compressed into the June lst to 9th period by the_use of 47 volunteers. During this time period, approximately 142 kilometers on the 52 beaches with suitable nesting habitat outside the P.E.I. National Park were surveyed by the NHSPEI volunteers. A total of 28 pairs and 8 single Piping Plover were sighted. The P.E.I. National Park-beaches were ‘surveyed by Parks and People staff under a Canadian Parks-Service contract. They surveyed 7 beaches and 23 pairs of Piping Plovers were sighted during the

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