October 13th, 2006
Brown Pelicans
This little flurry of posts is the result of me having a bit of time before wandering off for the day, so I’ve decided to post yet antoher piece — and yes, about another “first” for me. Before this trip, I had never seen either White or Brown Pelicans at close range (just Brown Pelicans from a considerable distance). When I find some time, I’ll post something about the White Pelicans, but for now, I’ll just write about the Brown Pelicans (Pelecanus occidentalis) that we’ve been seeing for the past few days. From what I understand, these pelicans are now moving southwards for the winter. I’ve been seeing large and small flocks of them flying south along the coast, especially in locations where points of land extend out into the ocean. In these places, the pelicans seem to hug the shore for a short time before moving seaward once more. Sometimes they fly in a formation high above the ocean, but just as often, they fly in a line just above the waves… in fact, often so low that the line disappears into the trough between one wave and the next. I’m in awe of the speed, power and gracefulness of these birds. They may seem awkward when hitting the water’s surface while diving for food, but I am amazed at how they can launch themselves back into the air from an almost dead stop.
A few nights ago, we were lucky enough to come upon a place where many of the southward flying Pelicans were dropping down to grab a meal before moving onwards. I shot this little mp4 clip that shows a few Pelicans floating on the waves while others fly over and plunge to the water for a meal (it’s about 1.8 mb. and has sound). In the same spot, Harbor Seals were swimming back and forth just offshore, and at one point, a great spurt of water shot up for many feet in the air, revealing the presence of a what must have been some species of whale not from from shore. Gulls and other unidentified birds can be seen flying among the pelicans. It made quite a scene. I almost felt as though I was sitting in the orchestra pit with some great stage production going on before my eyes.
October 13th, 2006 at 2:43 pm
The brown pelican is one of my absolute favorite birds. I could watch them for hours and never tire of them. They are beautiful when they soar, and a bit ungainly when they dive. Whenever we would drive south between Santa Cruz and southern California, we would stop and eat our picnic lunch along the coast in Pismo Beach where hundreds of pelicans rest on the rocks. Beautiful photograph, Bev, and the video makes me miss our old home in Santa Cruz.
October 13th, 2006 at 2:46 pm
Robin – Thanks! We loved watching the Pelicans. In fact, we spent a couple of days watching them at points along the coast. One flock passed just above our heads when we were wandering along a beach just south of Crescent City. They were so close that we could see their wonderful eyes.
October 13th, 2006 at 4:13 pm
Beautiful shot! I’ve never seen brown pelicans–but I was treated to the sight of white ones, a great surprise to me, floating on a lake in Saskatchewan.
October 14th, 2006 at 2:27 am
Thanks for the mini-birding trip – love the videos!
We get a few brown pelicans here in NJ, but they are difficult to see because they’re so far out on the ocean.
October 14th, 2006 at 3:06 pm
Pamela – The White Pelicans are truly grand birds, so you are fortunate to have seen them. I did get to see quite a number of them on this trip while passing through wildlife reserves in the northern California interior. However, my photos leave something to be desired, but I’ll post a couple once I get time to sort through everything back home.
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Laura – Thanks! As you’ve mentioned, my only Brown Pelican encounter was somewhere on the Atlantic coast where I saw a couple through binoculars at great distance, so it was wonderful getting to see so many of these birds at close range on this trip.
October 15th, 2006 at 1:28 pm
We visited the fishing town of San Blas on the Pacific coast of Mexico and hundreds of brown pelicans were flying and sitting around waiting for the fishers to sort their catch. It was very entertaining to watch them.
October 18th, 2006 at 8:26 pm
Ruth – That must have been a terrific spot for pelican watching. I could easily sit and watch them for hours.