Pelicans, crabs and cakes: Smith Island, Maryland, US - in pictures

Brown pelicans peer through an uninhabited marsh on the Virginia side of Smith Island just south of Tylerton, Maryland, USA. Forty years ago, due to the pesticide DDT, brown pelicans were on the edge of extinction; the Smith island colony began to appear in 1987. Scientists believe global warming may be a factor in their northward range extension into the Chesapeake Bay Photograph: Jim Lo Scalzo/EPA

Captain Terry Laird and his son Terry Junior endure rough seas as Laird senior pilots a boat carrying soft shell crabs 12 miles east across the Chesapeake Bay to the mainland town of Crisfield, Maryland from their home on the Smith Island town of Ewell Photograph: Jim Lo Scalzo/EPA

A peacock brought to Smith Island by Terry Laird perches on a resident's car at the quay of the island's town, Tylerton Photograph: Jim Lo Scalzo/EPA

Waterman Allen Marsh leaves his crab shanty after 'pulling up' soft-shell crabs: crabs that have just molted and are soft to the touch, and especially delicious to eat, in Ewell, Smith Island. Marsh sends his soft-shells daily by boat to the mainland, where the larger crabs are driven in a refrigerated truck to New York City Photograph: Jim Lo Scalzo/EPA

Soft-shell crabs sit freshly packed in Marsh's crab shanty Photograph: Jim Lo Scalzo/EPA

A new moon lights up Chesapeake Bay behind the boat dock in the Smith Island town of Tylerton Photograph: Jim Lo Scalzo/EPA

Newly-made 10-layer Smith Island cakes, coated with cooked coconut icing, wait to be boxed and shipped at the Smith Island Baking Company on the island. Many islanders hope that marketing and selling Smith Island's signature cakes can help diversify the local economy Photograph: Jim Lo Scalzo/EPA

Missy Tyler, left, and Connie Dize stack layers of cake between icing to make the traditional 10-layer Smith Island cakes Photograph: Jim Lo Scalzo/EPA

In the mainland town of Crisfield, where residents like to say that they all have some Smith Island blood, 10-year-old Madison Clayton, centre, whose father descends from the Smith island town of Tylerton, lines up with other children to dance in a street parade during the 66th National Hard Crab Derby. In the last 50 years, much of Smith Island's population has relocated to the mainland Photograph: Jim Lo Scalzo/EPA

Residents and visiting relatives pray inside the island's Methodist tabernacle during an annual religious gathering called 'camp meeting' in Ewell, Smith Island Photograph: Jim Lo Scalzo/EPA

Peggy Evans, along with her grandson Colby Evans, rushes home from her job at Rukes grocery store and restaurant just before the arrival of a derecho, a line of thunderstorms with especially strong winds, in Ewell, Smith Island Photograph: Jim Lo Scalzo/EPA

An evening thunderstorm passes over a house built on the edge of a salt marsh near Ewell Photograph: Jim Lo Scalzo/EPA