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Pelican Roost While working as a Marine Biologist at the Florida Marine Research Institute, St. Petersburg, FL, I often drove by Lake Maggiore at sunset and took photos. I drew the roosting tree from several of those photos, added the bird in the foreground, and created this watercolor. The tree I photographed has long since fallen down and the lake, like many other US bodies of water, became damaged by fertilizers, pesticides, oils, and dirt from surrounding roads washing into it. In the 1980s, with high bacterial levels, overgrown with nuisance vegetation, teeming with reptiles and rodents, the lake was closed to boating, fishing, and swimming. In the 1990s, the community began restoring Lake Maggiore to its previous grandeur. The Brown Pelican, Pelecanus occidentalis, lives strictly on coasts from Washington and Virginia south to northern Chile and the mouth of the Amazon River. Pesticides like DDT and Dieldrin™ threatened its future in the southeast United States and California in the early 1970s. Since the banning of DDT, populations of these large fish-eating birds have steadily increased. The original watercolor, presented in a 2.5" wide walnut hardwood frame and matching filet (triple matted in tan on tan on tan suede with an outer dimension of 29" x 24"), is available for $2,700.00. Limited edition prints and note cards are also available. Click here for availability and price.