If you have been following this blog for a while, you know that Peggy and I love pelicans. They can appear and act a bit strange. It’s what makes them so attractive to us. We like weird. It wasn’t clear what this one was up to. Scratching an itch? Waving to us? Practicing a crash landing? Whatever, we were lucky to catch it in mid-acton. At the time we were visiting Cabo San Lucas on the the tip of the Baja Peninsula.This one was swimming around in the water nearby. The sharp tip on the end of its bill is called a nail, as in nailed it, to help in catching fish and assuring that they don’t escape from the pouch.A handsome fellow— in pelican terms— was watching the action. Note the big feet. Brown Pelicans use them to incubate their eggs, placing them on top of the egg instead of using their warm feathers and body heat like every other bird we can think of. Mom and Pop actually make good parents. The male brings in nesting material; the female builds the nest. Both participate in incubating the eggs, and both help in feeding the nestlings, i.e. they spew regurgitated fish into the nest. It’s a potluck.Graceful, huh. Brown pelicans dive into the water to catch dinner. Style is not required. They start their dive from as high as 60 feet up in the air and plummet straight down, turning their neck just before hitting the water to avoid injury. Peggy and I were watching a feeding frenzy of around 50 pelicans on the Bahía de Banderas, the bay off of Puerto Vallarta, Mexico when we took this photo and the next one.It was insane. The large pouch of a pelican can hold up to two gallons of water. As soon as the water drains, it swallows whatever it has caught. A two part stomach system then processes the fish to make them palatable. We couldn’t help but think that this pelican was celebrating— not only because it had caught a fish, but also because it was out of the melee. Woohoo!We watched a youngster on the Rio Cuale in Puerto Vallarta. Its body had a ways to go to catch up with the size of its bill. I think it was trying to scare up a meal. Or take a bath.The west coast of California, Oregon and Washington also provides numerous opportunities for watching brown pelicans. At one time these magnificent birds were almost extinct because of the poison DDT used widely by farmers to protect their crops from insects. With the banning of the poison, the birds are now off of the endangered species list and number over 600,000 worldwide. This, and the next three photos were taken on the Carpinteria Beach south of Santa Barbara, California.Looking dignified. A committee perhaps? Or maybe a board of directors. Note how three in front have placed their bills to the right. Takeoff on runway 1.You have probably seen brown pelicans in a neat line as they gracefully fly over waves. That wasn’t the case here. We were thinking, ‘Where’s the air traffic controller?’This is another one of those, “What the…” photos. Napping perhaps while resting its heavy head on its back? Catching a few rays on his pouch? We took this photo on a San Diego beach 17 years ago.Peggy and I were driving by a small pond in the Florida Everglades National Park last year when we spotted close to two hundred white pelicans stretched out in a long line, several pelicans deep. While brown pelicans dive for their fish dinners, white pelicans work together in a coordinated effort to herd fish into groups that makes them easier to catch. Most of these are peering into the water, watching and waiting. When a fish swims within reach, they strike using their broad pouches as a trap. It’s kind of like catching a butterfly with a butterfly net. The pelican on the top right has succeeded. Its pouch is still full of water.Success. Several pelicans are in various phases of swallowing their catch here. The roundup was apparently a success. The white pelican is one of the largest birds in North America with a wing span of up to 9 feet. While brown pelicans primarily catch their fish out of coastal waters, white pelicans can be found on lakes far inland. Shallow water where they can herd fish more easily is preferred.Our favorite pelican of all times was Petros, the well-loved white pelican of the Greek Island of Mykonos. We were wandering around the Mediterranean Sea several years ago with Peggy’s brother John, his wife Frances and friends when we met him. The original Petros passed on in 1986 but he has been replaced by at least a couple since. One was donated by Jackie Kennedy-Onassis.Petros and his successors have been living on Mykonos for 70 years, capturing the hearts of locals and visitors alike.I’ll conclude today’s post with my favorite photo of Petros. With the end of 2025 rapidly approaching, we will use our next three posts to focus on our three major trips of 2025: Hawaii, the Southwest, and New England.
Wandering through Time and Place 