I
was riding my bike past a small pond this morning and stopped to take some photographs
of a flock of pelicans making a rest stop on their way to their nesting grounds
just north of here.
I
woke them up from their nap in the sun.
I like how they look like old men with their fluffy top knots and their
wrinkled faces. Their red boots are very stylish.
The following info borrowed
from Wikipedia: The American White Pelican rivals the
trumpeter swan as the largest bird native to North America.
The plumage
is almost entirely bright white, except the black primary and secondary flight feathers.
The bill
is huge and flat on the top, with a large throat sac below. In the breeding season, there is a laterally
flattened "horn" on the upper bill, located about one-third the
bill's length behind the tip. This is the only one of the eight species of
pelican to have a bill "horn". The horn is shed after the birds have
mated and laid their eggs.
A side note: My fisherman hubby has no kind feelings for the flocks of pelicans who help themselves to more than the legal limit of the trout in his favorite lakes.
