Winter white out, ... Pure Florida style.
Glowing in the last few minutes of daylight, these white pelicans were resting on a shelly sandbar near North Key.
I do love the fact that they visit here.
They are a temporary seasonal gift of white ... like ice, snow , and sleet.
We could not resist them, so we turned the boat, shut the motor and let the wind drift us past this tiny bar covered in white.
Watching these pelicans seemed like a great way to burn off the last rays of a setting sun.
I've said it before on this blog, but I love pelicans for allowing me to "suspend reality" for a moment and visualize the pterosaurs of long ago.
I picture shorelines millions of years ago covered with quarrelling pterodactyls, while others snatch fish from the surface of the Western Interior Seaway.
I can see it so vividly with a little help from my Pelican lenses.
Call it pelican induced hallucinations ... or just call it weird, but I can see it so clearly in the presence of pelicans.
A few days later, while seeking contact with redfish, Captain Denny and I came across this flock of white pelicans and cormorants feeding together.
The photo above is a tiny cropped portion of this magnificent raft of birds.
What a sight.
Fleeting like snow, sleet, and ice.
But more real ...
... from where I float.
14 comments:
We saw a bunch of white pelicans on a boat ride yesterday. Either I never paid attention before or that's the first time I've seen them in the river.
wow, that's a lot of big white prehistoric-like birds!
my sister used to do a pterodactlyl imitation; it was almost as entertaining in the dorm hallways as the mussel imitation that someone else made up during a summer honors program. the aortic arch/heart performance invented by my premed roomie was good, too. who says there is no value in a broad liberal arts education? [no, i do not perform in public any more, don't even ask.]
There is no other bird other than the pelican that screams "Florida!" more. Maybe that's because I grew up in Florida. Who knows?
What a soothing video. I watched it twice. I've had QUITE the stressful week or two, if you must know.
Awesome pics FC!
Birds. THe Canadiens (geese) are on their way back to Canada but a freak snowstorm last week had them stuck in PA wondering if they were trekking home too early
I am so glad you are taking such good care of "our" pelicans this winter. We look forward to seeing them overhead again when they head north to our prairie potholes.
Great video- they are such graceful fliers. See you in a couple months, pelicans!
I wasn't going to say anything, but can't resist. Someone by the name of FC had a blog post written about them and someone with the initials of JZ thinks you are cool. And of course, you are. But, I am getting a chuckle about how red your face must be right now.
After reading Julies blog I had to come for a visit.
This isn't a casual thing for me, having dial up disconnect disservice from Bell.
We get to see the real winter white and are willing to send some your way, postage collect of course.
I am enjoying your blog, thanks for taking the time to post.
Ric
I wish our winter white outs looked like that. Love this post. Thanks for sharing.
Thanks everyone!
These whites are really impressive.
The combined cormorant/pelican flock was far larger than my cropped photo allows.
I bet there were two hundred pelicans.
I think pelicans are really cool birds. I'm not much of a bird person, but I really enjoy pelicans, sandhill cranes, eagles and owls. They each have a certain magnificence abt them. And I also remember Endora being a pelican on Bewitched!
We have white pelicans on the Upper Texas Coast in winter also. But our biggest snow is made up of snow geese. The last 4000 or so left Anahuac National Refuge (where I live and volunteer) yesterday between 3 and 6P. Our skies are much quieter now.
Love your blog. Glad Julie Z. found you for us.
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