Jan. 25, 2015 - Brown Pelicans

Diana and I are again spending part of the winter on St. George Island, located about halfway across the Florida Panhandle near the town of Apalachicola. A couple of days ago I was watching some Brown Pelicans fishing on a bay near the house we are renting

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This pelican caught a fish and is throwing its head back to swallow it. Look for the globs of mud flying through the air to the right and left above the bill.

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A pelican is a large bird and it takes a lot of effort to get airborne. This is how it begins. The pelican stretches those incredibly long wings high into the air to get a powerful first stroke.

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The down stroke starts to lift the bird out of the water.

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The splashes of water on each side of the bird are the spots where the wing tips hit on the first down stroke. This looks like a very awkward position, but the bird is folding its wings to minimize air resistance when bringing its wings up again. It’s the same type of movement a swimmer makes when doing the breast stroke.

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After it’s in the air, the pelican is a very graceful flyer. Its large wings allow it to soar for a long time. The pelicans I was watching would soar from one side of the bay to the other until they spotted a fish in the water below. Then they would fold their wings and dive like an arrow to catch the fish. Another amazing sight is seeing a line of pelicans gliding along just a foot or two above the water. They seem to be floating along on a cushion of air with only an occasional flap of those long wings.

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