Date: 14 January 2014. Pelican Visits Algae.
© janice142
I had another visitor the other day
-- and this time the fellow who stopped by didn't come aboard Seaweed.
Instead he hung out on Algae. Quite frankly, what with Skipper on Alert I
could certainly understand his reluctance to come inside. Though weighing
a mere four pounds,
there are times when my First Mate forgets she is a well-behaved Papillon.
SANTA ROSA SOUND is east of
Pensacola, Florida.
Green water and sandy bottom equals good anchor holding, though
unprotected from east or west winds.
Of course it is good that Skipper
lets me know when boats approach. Her favorite though are dolphin and ever
since we were surrounded by that pod in Santa Rosa sound, well, she goes
bonkers when she hears their breath.
Short lesson in breathing: Dolphin
have a much faster breath than manatee. It is a Puff versus a more
sustained and deeper PUFF from a manatee. At some point you shall hear both
exhale if you traverse warm waters. Once you hear the second you will
always be able to differentiate between the two.
Skipper
alerted me to the fact that we had a visitor so I got out the camera to
take pictures. I was able to observe the pelican as he preened on my Algae
approximately six feet away. Of course I wondered if he would "christen"
the inside and worried when he turned his butt inside the dink versus
hanging over the water.
Eventually I figured out is what the
pelican was doing. As he ran each feather between his beak little mists of
water would come off the feather. The pelican was drying himself! I had
imagined when watching from a distance that they were picking out bugs but that did
not appear to be the case. It was fascinating.
|
|
Pelican dries off
while standing on the stern
of my dinghy Algae. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
And yes, Algae was christened by the
pelican. That is why I have lots of work rags around -- for these little
(and not so little) messes!
I enjoy watching the wildlife that
surrounds the waterfront. It interests me. Perhaps that is why I so enjoy life afloat.
There
is a show every day if I only take the time to look around.
Of course this
life awaits you too. Come on out and see for yourself!
Do you have pelicans near where you live?
Have you ever had one land on a boat you've been aboard?
Regarding the Comments Section,
found at the end of every article:
-
Before you type in each block be
sure to hit the backspace key. Coding inserts a space in every box.
Your email address will come back as malformed unless you remove
that space. (You don't have to include your email address.)
-
The capcha is case sensitive.
|
COMMENTS:
© 2014, 2019, 2023
Categories:
Anchorages,
Boat Talk,
Entertainment, Locations,
Pets,
Wild Things
Progress on Engine ~
Previous Post ...
... Next Post
~
Beryl
Lessons
First Mate's Gallery
now open ~
Crew photos welcome via
Email.
|