Goodbye, Old Gus.

About a week ago, Michael and I were on the search for driftwood.  We wandered the marsh edge and picked up any that had washed ashore with the recent high tides.  When we came to the pier, we noticed a pelican sitting on the end.  It seemed to be resting after some strenuous diving.  We made our way down the pier and the bird never moved. Old Gus sure looked tired.  Michael sat down about ten feet from the bird and talked with him as I took pictures.  The bird sat and stared at us never once making the effort to flee.  After about ten minutes of this, we continued our quest.  I really needed driftwood for a few art projects and communing with a pelican just was not helping our stockpile.

Fast forward until yesterday.  Mark came in from securing his boat and informed me that I had a dead pelican by the pier.  Well, I like that!  "I" had a dead pelican!  Who does he think I am?  Perhaps "I" am the keeper of all waterfowl?  No, he really did not mean that I had a dead pelican but rather that there was one near the pier. The fact that it was pouring icy rain kept him from disposing of the body.  I did not get down there to survey the matter yesterday but today when I ventured to the pier, I found the carcass.  Sure enough, there was a dead pelican right beside the pier and it was starting to be a little, umm, ripe.  I think Mark thought some hungry critter would come drag the thing far into the marsh but instead, it just laid there like dead animals are prone to do.  Like I said, it was starting to get a bit rank so I had the bright idea of removing the carcass and disposing of it.  Being as our pier is quite high above the marsh, this was going to prove a tad difficult.  I was really not wanting to get in that mud with a dead bird.  Spying the boat hook, I had a brilliant idea! I would hook that bird and haul it to the open water.  There it would wash away with the tide and not be my problem any longer!  Pure genius!  I slipped the hook under the crook of the bird's neck and lifted.  Ahh, that was much lighter than I expected!  So, there I went traipsing down the two hundred foot pier with a dead pelican dangling from the fifteen foot long boat hook.  Ms. Ezzy was following behind making loud sniffing noises.  She was not sure about this and wanted no part of any such actions!  Once on the end of the pier, I shoved the bird out into the water.  Maybe a gar or gator would take a liking to pelican and rid the thing from the area.  I was wrong.  I had miscalculated!  The tide was rising!  That dead pelican almost beat me back to the marsh!  Oh, my!  Well, at the moment at least, it was not lodged in between marsh clumps.  Perhaps it would remain free and go back out with the falling tide early tomorrow morning. Hopefully!

It is always sad to see the passing of any of my critter friends.  Old Gus will be missed.  Don't get me wrong.  Old Gus will be back in the morning!  He will be diving for mullet at sunrise!  You see, every Brown Pelican is named Old Gus in my view.  Pop named them this and it has just sort of stuck all of these years.  Tomorrow morning, I will greet the pelicans with "Good morning, Old Gus" after bidding farewell to Old Gus this evening.  Goodbye, Old Gus.  It has been great knowing you.