C'mere Pelican
day 105
As the summer turned to autumn and the mornings became darker, the pelicans began to fly lower over the dark water. I took to splashing at the birds as they flew by. Paddling out into the small surf, I watched the beasts. Some birds sat in the water, resting outside the break. Other pelicans flew over the water alone, or in angled formations in groups of three to eight.
Early morning and late afternoon during the rising tide are the prime feeding times for pelicans. In the mornings, small fish often jump out of the water in tiny splashes. Larger fish sometimes jump after the small fish, their greedy mouths open in short flight.
A pelican flew by me, and spotted a fish for catching. It flew low to the water, gliding only a foot above the surface. Suddenly, the bird angled its path upwards, then spun its body against the flight momentum and did a diving crash into the water. It hit the water with its back turned to the direction it was previously flying. The beak entered the surface of the water open, and perfectly vertical. While it's body continued twisting towards equilibrium, the pelican closed his beak in a quick scooping motion.
At the end of the whole maneuver, the pelican was sitting upright on the surface of the water. It paused for a moment, for what I could only assume is an inventory of the catch. Calmly spreading it's wings, it beat several times quickly, splashing the water lightly with its wing tips, and flew off, dripping water from its beak.
Pelicans have been known to dive for food from a height of 40 feet. The pelicans we see in the mornings have wingspans of up to six feet. They are not small beasts, and crash into the water with quit a bit of force, often submerging completely and resurfacing.
The California brown pelican breeds in the Channel Islands, off the California coast at Santa Barbara. The breeding season runs from March to early August, after which the pelicans spread out along the California coast to as far down as Baja California. Some pelicans wander inland to the Colorado River or the Salton Sea. Others can be found up to 100 miles out to sea.
My boss is from Australia. He calls our brown California pelicans "dirty miniature versions of pelicans."
More Later
-Travis
copyright 2004 Travis R. English
sources include:
CA department of Fish and Game http://www.dfg.ca.gov/whdab/html/B043.html
As the summer turned to autumn and the mornings became darker, the pelicans began to fly lower over the dark water. I took to splashing at the birds as they flew by. Paddling out into the small surf, I watched the beasts. Some birds sat in the water, resting outside the break. Other pelicans flew over the water alone, or in angled formations in groups of three to eight.
Early morning and late afternoon during the rising tide are the prime feeding times for pelicans. In the mornings, small fish often jump out of the water in tiny splashes. Larger fish sometimes jump after the small fish, their greedy mouths open in short flight.
A pelican flew by me, and spotted a fish for catching. It flew low to the water, gliding only a foot above the surface. Suddenly, the bird angled its path upwards, then spun its body against the flight momentum and did a diving crash into the water. It hit the water with its back turned to the direction it was previously flying. The beak entered the surface of the water open, and perfectly vertical. While it's body continued twisting towards equilibrium, the pelican closed his beak in a quick scooping motion.
At the end of the whole maneuver, the pelican was sitting upright on the surface of the water. It paused for a moment, for what I could only assume is an inventory of the catch. Calmly spreading it's wings, it beat several times quickly, splashing the water lightly with its wing tips, and flew off, dripping water from its beak.
Pelicans have been known to dive for food from a height of 40 feet. The pelicans we see in the mornings have wingspans of up to six feet. They are not small beasts, and crash into the water with quit a bit of force, often submerging completely and resurfacing.
The California brown pelican breeds in the Channel Islands, off the California coast at Santa Barbara. The breeding season runs from March to early August, after which the pelicans spread out along the California coast to as far down as Baja California. Some pelicans wander inland to the Colorado River or the Salton Sea. Others can be found up to 100 miles out to sea.
My boss is from Australia. He calls our brown California pelicans "dirty miniature versions of pelicans."
More Later
-Travis
copyright 2004 Travis R. English
sources include:
CA department of Fish and Game http://www.dfg.ca.gov/whdab/html/B043.html
posted by travinator @ 6:11 PM
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