Mysteries of Nature: Fire and Ice

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Brown Pelicans at the Capitola Wharf

Yesterday was a perfect example of one of the many reasons I love being a nature photographer. I say this, not because of coming back with nice pictures, but because of the experience of being there.

There were bird reports that a very large school of sardines had come in, right under the Capitola Wharf, and had brought in 3,000 (!) brown pelicans, along with many cormorants, and had even brought the murres in from the open water.

It was all true. I'm not a skilled bird counter, but 3,000 pelicans seemed like it might even have been a conservative guess. There were a lot of pelicans. I've lived most of my life near the seashore, and I've seen a lot of pelicans, before, but never anything like this. They were like a cloud of giant, ancient birds around the wharf, almost darkening the sky. They were so dense that it took special effort to get unobstructed photos of individuals.

The feeling of the abundance of life all around was palpable. It was majestic and astonishing.

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By the way, the brown pelican picture, above, was not from yesterday; I haven't yet had an opportunity to deal with those shots and get them online. I'll try to do so, soon.

Thanks for reading.

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Brown Pelican in Flight, #2

All pictures and text are © Mike Spinak, unless otherwise noted. All pictures shown are available for purchase as fine art prints, and are available for licensed stock use. Telephone: (831) 325-6917.