It's been awhile since I posted a Marsh Project post. I have several reasons for that: I got busy with the holidays, I needed to take a brief writing break because my brain needed a rest, and the marsh trail has been partially inaccessible due to flooding and rain. I'm putting that project on hiatus until the trail dries out a bit because right now all the posts would be the same: Look! Water! Mud! More mud! Look at all the mud! OMG, there is so much mud out here! So I'm going to focus on something different: American White Pelicans.
Sometimes when the good Lord taketh away, the good Lord also giveth- and in this instance, the good Lord gave American White Pelicans below the dam at the nature preserve. These pelicans show up when the dam is releasing massive amounts of water, and they usually stick around until the release goes back to normal. How the pelicans know the dam is releasing water, I do not know- but they do. Human fishermen also show up to take advantage of the fishing, which sometimes leads to unfortunate humankind-pelican interactions, like pelicans getting entangled in fishing line. Other birds- osprey, herons, egrets, cormorants, kingfishers, and bald eagles- also come looking for fish.
I could watch these pelicans for hours. OK, confession time: Sometimes I DO watch these pelicans for hours. I'll sit down with my camera on a rock, thinking that I'm only going to stay for a few minutes, and then the next thing I know the park is closing and the ranger is telling people it's time to go, or my stomach will start growling and I'll realize that I've been watching pelicans for almost two hours and it's time for lunch. One of my New Year's goals was to spend much less time on Facebook, so I figure that if I'm watching pelicans, I'm not on Facebook arguing about politics. Win-Win.
The pelicans are very entertaining to observe. They're huge birds, but wonderfully graceful in the air. They'll fly up from downstream towards the dam, looking like small pelican-shaped aircraft, until they get close to where they want to be, then they put their feet down to prepare for landing. They will float on the water, just kind of hanging out like a bunch of teenagers at the mall, until several of them will decide that it's fishing time. They'll rise up out of the water, wings flapping wildly, and all meet together in one spot. If you observe closely, often you'll see one pelican come out of that with a fish in its beak. It happens really quickly; I've concentrated my efforts on getting better at reading pelican body language so I can tell when this is getting ready to happen so I can be prepared with the camera, but that is definitely a work in progress.
I recently discovered that my camera has a sports function on it, and if you are using the sports function and you hold the photo-taking button (I'm sure it has a technically correct name; I just don't recall it right now) down, the camera will keep taking photos until you release the button. So, instead of taking thirty photos and getting three or four good ones, I can take two hundred photos and get three or four good ones. I mostly use the auto function of the camera because I'd rather be looking for wildlife to photograph rather than learning how to use the camera, but I might have to pull up the manual and read it; maybe there are other functions that would be useful.
I'm including some of the photos I've taken in the last few weeks so that if you have not been fortunate enough to see these birds IRL, you can get a glimpse of how great they are to watch and how beautiful they are. I'll be glad to have my marsh trail back for hiking, but I'll also be sad to see the pelicans go.
If you're intrigued, like I am, by these pelicans and want to learn more:
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