by Youngbear Roth

Created on: July 09, 2010   Last Updated: July 19, 2010

Living in Southern California, my wife and I have taken the drive along Pacific Coast Highway just above the Pacific Ocean between Santa Barbara and Los Angeles many times. However, this particular day must stand out in my memory. We were cruising at a mean fifty-five miles per hour when I happened to glance out of our passenger side window. Directly parallel to the vehicle, and matching our speed, I witnessed my first pelican for an extended period of time, about two minutes, in flight. The bird flew so close to the highway I felt as though I could touch it.

Strangely, I felt ashamed. I'd seen many pelicans strutting near the water and even in flocks stealing fish off the boats at Ports of Call in San Pedro. I considered them ugly, clumsy looking birds and thieves. This bird, theif, whatever, flying at least the legal speed limit using its strong neck to hold its huge pouched bill straight as an arrow pointing into eternity, took my breath away.

Pelicans are large water birds sporting huge bills with distensible pouches for capturing fish (or stealing them off of boats). Most varieties are white with black flight feathers, although in my home state of California I usually see the Brown Pelican waddling with its large webbed feet and a wonderful wingspan that ranges from six to nine feet in flight. Pelicans are found along all coasts and many lakes and marshes throughout the tropics and warmer zones.

The Brown Pelican eats saltwater anchovies, menhaden, and sardines, while the White Pelican is a fresh water bird that eats perch, chub, trout, and carp. White Pelicans are extremely strategic and cooperative in their feeding habits. They work in flocks driving schools of fish closer to the shore where they are easier to catch. The birds accomplish this driving by beating their wings in the water forcing the fish schools into the shallows.

Of particular interest is the distensible pouch or gular. It is used to catch fish which it eats immediately and it is also the pelican's natural air conditioning unit. Pelicans dissipate their body heat by fluttering their pouches. Despite their clumsy appearance, pelicans are by nature athletic and once again they use their pouches to exercise by tossing the head back and opening the bill or by tucking the head and turning the pouch inside out. The pouch is also used in breeding displays by inflating it like a balloon.

It is a sad statement to admit that I am often blind, or at best, a poor judge of our creator's work.  I certainly appreciate the pelican since my coastal drive so long ago, and I am troubled to know that this graceful - yes, I said, "graceful-"bird is threatened by its precarious existence so close to humankind's poisons and insecticides. We are banning more poisons as time passes and the pelican population is making a recovery. If any pelicans happen to be reading this – they're very smart – my hopes and thoughts are with you.  

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