Visitors 38
Modified 9-Dec-24
Created 30-Oct-23
39 photos
Around here, if you see a large shoreline bird hang in the air, then fold its wings for a steep dive into (and sometimes under) the water – you see a Brown Pelican. This dive can be dangerous, and hard on the skull and other body parts: don’t try this at home. The pelican has evolved for this.
This Brown Pelican at Bair Island seems to have found a different technique. It skims along the water surface, suddenly diving when it spots a fish up ahead. Then it spins around in the water, as all of these birds do, which tends to protect fragile body parts.
Meanwhile, a squadron of Brown Pelicans, at least 32, passes high overhead. Some are in breeding plumage, some not. They visit more distant fishing grounds.
Cornell Labs calls the Brown Pelican a "comically elegant bird". Such fun to watch and photograph. They almost disappeared from North America before DDT was banned in 1972 -- parents use the skin on their feet to keep their eggs warm, and they were cracking the thinning eggshells. Their comeback is another triumph of regulation: they were taken off the endangered species list in 2009, and thrive today.
We see another, smaller, diving bird today: a tern. But it was too quick for me. I never got a good photo of its dive or grab. Some photos of its searching flight are in a nearby gallery, along with other birds and views from this morning at Bair Island.
