365 days of images - - Day 188 - July 6, 2021 - Linda's Intuitive Images LMH -- Brown Pelicans at Carmel River State Beach

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Carmel River State Beach is one of my favorite places to walk because there is often Brown Pelicans bathing the lagoon.  They remind me of pterodactyls, the wing span is incredible, I love to watch them fly.  I plopped myself onto a log that was on the beach, sat, watched them fly in and out of the lagoon.  They scare easily, a dog, a person even other birds will send them all flying at once.  The skies can fill with birds, it reminds me of all the wildlife documentaries I have watched.  I would say, I'm at my happiest, when I feel like I'm in one of those documentaries.  Monterey Bay is filled with experiences like that.

Brown Pelican Facts:

 Brown Pelicans make their spectacular dives into the water from as high as 65 feet.

Male attracts a female by selecting a nest site and enticing her to build a nest together.

1. Pelicans make their own evaporative cooling system to dissipate heat by rapidly flapping the gular pouch, called a gular flutter, while their bill is open.

Gulls will often try to steal fish from the Brown Pelican’s pouch as it drains the water out.

A group of pelicans is called a pod. Actually, there are many other names for pelican groupings - a pouch, a scoop, a squadron or if they are fishing as a group, a fleet.

Adult Brown Pelicans incubate their eggs with their webbed feet.

Pelicans have changed very little in the last 30-40 million years.

Brown pelicans were federally listed as endangered in the 1970s and '80s because of pesticides that entered their food chain, but their populations have recovered.

On the Pacific Coast, Brown Pelican adults have red skin on their throats in the breeding season.

The only breeding colonies of California brown pelicans in the western United States are on West Anacapa and Santa Barbara Islands.

Brown pelicans normally lay three eggs and the adults share incubation duties.

In the Pacific, they migrate up to British Columbia. In early winter they return south to warmer waters on both coasts.

Black Oyster Catcher

I can't resist walking around the neighborhoods in Carmel.  There are secret gardens all over the place...

To Phil:

I miss you.

I can feel your spirit and love around me.

You are filling my heart and mind right now.

I can't believe it has been almost a year.

Click the link below to read my tribute to Phil

Remembering the love of my life - Philip J Hellyer 6/28/1975 - 07/09/2020