Pelicans

I had the rare opportunity of photographing a large flock of pelicans on a recent hike that Rose and I shared with Irene and Chris.  We walked upon the group as they sunned themselves on a rock outcropping immediately below us.  I have to say I was quite surprised to see how truly beautiful they are up close.  Except for the smell of rotting fish poop, it was a really neat experience. 

I have placed an album of the photos I took at

http://picasaweb.google.com/gordon710/Pelicans?authkey=Gv1sRgCJbH5-e9yI24Lg#   Use the slide show feature of the album so you don't have to manually go through the pictures.

I hope you enjoy the pictures and will agree on how beautiful a bird they are.  I especially like the "lace like" appearance of the wing feathers.  Unfortunately, approximately 500 of the birds have died on the  California coast this winter for lack of food.  Apparently exceptionally warm water off of the southern coast of California has driven smaller fish such as sardines to deeper waters further out in the ocean.  As a result food sources have dropped for the pelicans and hence starvation.  Our gain however is that large groups of the birds have moved to the central coast in search of food. 

Still living the dream,

Gordon, et.al.