Pelican at Young's Bay

“Let a squadron of southbound pelicans but feel a lift of prairie breeze… and they sense at once that here is a landing in the geological past, a refuge from that most relentless of aggressors, the future. With queer antediluvian grunts they set wing, descending in majestic spirals to the welcoming wastes of a bygone age.”  Aldo Leopold

These are huge birds, nearly 4 feet high with a nine foot wingspan.  They fly a in neat V formation, and the squad forms a sort of wave as they go.  It’s very calming to look at them soaring with their powerful wings, ponderously wheeling and circling in unison. They look to me like flying dinosaurs, holding ancient wisdom.  I watch them flying past my windows nearly every day in the summer, when they return to nesting sights in Southern Washington.  Supposedly, they aren’t supposed to be here, but  with climatic disruptions, Astoria Oregon has become known to them as a safe harbor. 

They don’t dive from the air for fish like their cousin, the brown pelican, but rather hunt in formation, all working together.  Ive seen then all bobbing in unison in a line, herding fish to the shallows where they can scoop them up and swallow them.  They practice serial monogamy, getting down to the business of raising chicks.  Usually, only one baby survives, as the wee one requires so much food that two cannot make it.  Life is tough for these beauties.  

In the past, they were often seen in Christian iconography, because it was wrongly believed that in lean times, white pelican parents  tore a

hole in their chests to feed the chick so it wouldn’t starve.  This made the pelican seem like it was willing to sacrifice itself for its children. 

This one comes framed, and shipping is extra.