Afternoon Snack!
Today was a beautiful clear day on the Broward. I was unable to do my usual morning shoot due to lack of a caregiver for my Mother in Law so I just sat by the kitchen window while I fed Mom and watched the “Shirley Birds” in the tree by the back porch. The cardinals and finches kept me entertained. I watched the tide come and go. I love being retired but it about drove me nuts not being on the dock on a “work” day! Then the Editor in Chief arrives in the late afternoon and I grab the camera and head for the pier so I can go shootin!
I hurried down to the pier as the tide was going out. The sun was just beginning to set in the late afternoon but was not too harsh. It was perfect to catch this late afternoon snack-time. Sorta like when the kids come home from school hungry. During low tide the Brown Pelicans love to swim near the mouth of the channel and wait for the fish to come to them and then pounce on them and scoop them up similar to the way the white pelicans feed. Occasionally they get airborne and the antics are comical to see. Today there were several Brown pelicans at the mouth of the outgoing channel into river and feeding as the tide went out. Hoping they would venture up the channel I set up behind a piling and positioned myself for a semi-secluded shoot. I was soon rewarded. One followed the fish up towards the dock. I was not in the blind and this wary Pelican kept one eye on me and the other eye on the fish. When it decides I am not a threat it is time to eat! It did a short hop flight over the shallow water and spots some fish. It was interesting to see the sidewise scoop and swallow. It turns it head sideways as it spots the fish and skillfully snatches them without gulping a ton of mud. I call it Flying Chopsticks. The low-lying afternoon rays illuminate the pelicans orange pouch as it begins to swallow its catch. Then it is off on wing for another snatch and grab and is rewarded with another fish. This one seems to go down sideways, in protest it appears, but soon is swallowed with a little gulp. By this time it was getting a bit too close to me for comfort and decides to reposition back to the mouth of the channel. But not before it gives me the wary eye as it flies by.
I missed my morning coffee time with you but hope you liked our afternoon snack time also. The Pelicans seem so content and happy. It reminds me of the verse that says the birds neither toil nor work yet the Father feeds them. It also reminds us that even though He greatly cares for them that we are more important to Him than the birds and He will care for us even more. Just like He did today with this afternoon snack for the pelican, He fed my soul too! Hope your joy is as full as the pelican’s pouch today. Be blessed. Harry
A Shirley bird, (actually a male House Finch) greets the morning sun.
The Brown Pelican keeps a wary eye on me and one on the fish.
Shallow water fishin techniques! Pelican style.
Looks like a pelican using chopsticks!
Fishin with flyin chopsticks! There is one now!
Look ma, no mud! The pelicans orange pouch illuminated by the afternoon sun.
There is another one! Gotta be quick.
Gulp!
Gettin a bit too close!
I seee you!