My first day on the beach at Nag's Head offered up something completely unexpected to me. (http://www.townofnagshead.net/)
Brown Pelicans.
I was out in the water, enjoying the surf when I noticed a flock of seagulls heading towards me.
Seagulls?
Something seemed different though. Something was actually very unusual. It was something I had never seen before. These 'seagulls' were flying in perfect formation, swooping down gracefully across the crest of the waves. (http://www.stephencresswell.com/s/pelecanus.html)
It was beautiful to watch. I was amazed. I was speachless.
It didn't take very long to figure out that these birds were most certainly not seagulls! They were in fact brown pelicans.
"One of the very most interesting sea birds to watch, the pelican dives from improbable heights above the ocean to seize fish. The huge body, striking the surface of the sea from such a height, cracks like a rifle shot. One wonders why every bone in its body is not broken in such a dive." ~Charles Harry Whedbee in Blackbeard's Cup and Stories of The Outer Banks. (http://www.blairpub.com/coastal%20titles/outerbanksmysteries.htm)
It was one of the most gorgeous sites in nature I had ever seen. My companion went on to quote Dixon Lanier Merritt's famous poem from 1910:
What a wonderful bird is the pelican
His beak can hold more than his bellycan
He can hold in his beak
Enough for a week
'Though I can't see how in the hellican!
Enjoy your day everyone. There are wonderful things all around us.
Just a thought for today.
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