Such a lovely couple!

  Wintertime brings all sorts of fine feathered friends back to the Bayou. Ducks and Geese fill the Bay and songbirds flit about the yard.  The feeders stay filled to encourage the songbirds to linger but the shore birds have to fend for themselves.  Then there are the old friends that never leave. Brown Pelicans tend to hang around all year and become quite friendly.  According to Mark, the fishing has been poor lately so I worried that the waterfowl would move to other parts.  This afternoon, I noticed a pair of Brown Pelicans near the pier.  I climbed down into the boat to get a better view of the duo.  They seemed to be ok with my presence and kept about their business of paddling about the area. Neither seemed to be underfed.  This is good sign.

  As I sat in the boat watching the birds, I noticed that they were not doing too much hunting.  These birds usually do the dive and stun tactic to catch fish.  They will soar above the water, tuck their head to the left, rotate and plummet into a school of fish.  The action of tucking and rotating toward the left protects the bird's trachea and esophagus (which are on the right) from the impact when the bird hits the water. (Its weird but effective.)  Contrary to what most folks believe, the headfirst plunging is not to catch a fish but is a tactic the bird uses to stun fish.  After diving, the fish remain disoriented so the pelican can scoop up its supper.  This pair of pelicans were doing more paddling and resting so I assume they had already dined.  It was easy to recognize that both of these birds were adults.  They had the telltale creamy yellow heads and white necks.  Even though both sexes look alike, females are usually smaller than the males so I am assuming that I was visited by one of each.  They made a handsome couple!

  As I sat in the boat watching the pelicans, I did notice that a good many small mullet were schooling in the deeper water.  This was a good sign as my bird friends would have enough food to keep them happy and in the area.  I love my pelicans!