Pelicans

Posted 08:00 PST Sun Aug 19, 2007 in Travel

A few weeks ago we found ourselves in Florida on Sanibel Island for a set of meetings. While there were things about the trip I didn’t much like, the one morning Wife and I spent on the shore was enjoyable and relaxing. These pelicans were a lot of fun and I made many images of them.

We walked along the beach, Wife chasing shells and the occasional photograph of a gull or pelican, me looking for images. Eventually I waded out a few feet from shore to shorten the distance between the birds and myself. The Gulf water was bathtub-warm. I really prefer the Pacific Ocean to either the Atlantic or the Gulf.

While wading (and chasing birds), I discovered their food source. Thousands of small fish swam through the shallows — too small to range the deeper water, but also too small to stay so close in. Their schools proved good foraging for the local birds. I watched a gull try to steal fish from a pelican’s basket, the gull nearly standing on the pelican’s head! That caused us a good bit of laughter.

One of the odd things about our stay on Sanibel Island was the requirement to blind windows at night. Apparently, sea turtle hatchlings may mistake light escaping from the windows as moonlight and be misdirected on their way to the sea. This struck me as odd because there are other non-natural light sources around, such as walkway lamps, overhead lamps for the parking lots, and others. But, we were not to allow any light to escape the rooms!

Also, walking the beach early or late was verboten. I guess turtles and humans cannot coexist on the beach, therefore the humans must go. I’d better stop now, or I’ll get on a rant and it’s too early in the morning for that!