Saturday, August 23, 2008

When the fishing boats come in...

...after a long day on the ocean, the pelicans follow them to the docks, where they feast on scraps tossed by the crews and whatever tidbits come out of the scuppers as decks are hosed off.

Pelicans fascinate me.











It was good to go for a long walk with a friend at sunset after a week that finally reached its absolute worst today. While the coming days -- and perhaps weeks -- will be rough, I think I have evolved a way to get through it all and start making some real progress, rather than simply reacting to whatever gets thrown at me. I'm looking forward to it.

And, for a few minutes, I was distracted by these wonderful prehistoric birds.

7 comments:

Gina Vance said...

I love your pelican photos. They are one of my favorite birds, too. I especially love to sit on the beach and watch them hunt. An aerial ballet, if you will...

Thank you for sharing them. *smiling*
~db

Anonymous said...

These are great! Especially the maroon-feathered one! I love pelicans a lot, too: had a big treat, way back in '88, when I got to pet one on a railing @ a harbor in Monterey. His neck was vibrating: dunno if that was his version of purring---or grrrrring! ;)

Doug said...

Nice shots. Are pelicans as plentiful there as gulls are here?

I was able to photograph a young red-tailed hawk the other day. I was very pleased with myself :-)

MrScribbler said...

dal -- Nothing is as plentiful as gulls here. Except pigeons, maybe.

Nonetheless, the brown pelicans were thought to be nearing extinction when I moved here 6 1/2 years ago. Now, on a good day one sees hundreds of them. They're doing fine.

Anonymous said...

I love pelicans. I love watching them gulp down entire fish, like a crazy college-bound 20-something down several beers through a funnel - I'm glad to hear you have a plan to get through all of this, I hope it works out.
ben

Anonymous said...

Those are some beautiful pics, Scribbs!

MrScribbler said...

Thanks, emd! They just sorta flapped, paddled, floated and stood around and I pushed the button....