Pelican in Peril

We had an exciting afternoon at the beach. I was out in the water just floating around and I saw this guy chasing a pelican that was swimming fairly close to shore. I was thinking, “What’s with that guy? Leave the poor bird alone.” About that time I noticed several others were making their way through the water toward the bird. A lady said, “Did you see that pelican? He has a water bottle stuck in his throat!” I said, “No way,” but then noticed you could tell it did. You could even see the blue label of the water bottle through the skin on the bird’s enlarged neck.

Being a bird-lover I immediately joined the rescue effort with the guy in the lead. Unfortunately, just when it looked as though the bird was corralled it flew about 100 yards further out in the water, well beyond our reach in deeper water. Sadly we returned to the beach. The guy who was in the lead got his cell phone and began calling around to see if any wildlife people could come and save the bird. He did not have much success. About 20 minutes later I looked down the beach and noticed the bird had moved closer into shore. I walked down the beach and swam out to the bird, all the while trying to calm it by speaking to it. I got very close – I even touched its tail, before the bird flew again. Just then I looked up and here came the guy who had earlier tried to rescue the pelican to help me. Donna said that when he saw me get so close he began running down the beach to help me.

The guy and I made two more attempts to rescue the bird before it finally flew way beyond our reach in deeper water and we gave up and walked back to our chairs. I introduced myself on our walk back down the beach and found out he was from Minnesota. He was a real nice guy with a lovely family.

I went back to the house and got a snack before returning to the beach where Donna remained. I said, “Let’s walk down the beach and see if we see the pelican again.” Sure enough, we did, and it was closer than ever to shore. It also looked a lot weaker. We turned around and went back to get my Minnesota friend, but his family was packing up to go inside so he did not join me. Donna and I then walked down the beach and when we got near where the pelican was I asked a young man walking on the beach if he would help me. The young man agreed to help so we began wading out to the bird and this time the pelican let me get close enough to grab him. The young man then helped me by holding the bird’s wings while I squeezed its neck from below, forcing the bottle up toward his large mouth. All the while, of course, the pelican was trying to peck me. Finally I saw the top of the plastic water bottle so I reached in and grabbed it and pulled it out. The pelican then tried to take the bottle away from me again (I suppose he was protecting his “catch”).

We released the bird after I got the bottle out and it flew out a ways in the water, seemingly relieved. Several people in the water nearby who were, no doubt, wondering why two guys were attacking a pelican, began cheering and clapping when they saw the rescue and me holding the bottle.

We waited and watched a while and eventually saw the rescued pelican fly off looking none-the-worse for the trial it had undergone. All in all it was an exciting event as you might imagine. The photo above is of me holding the water bottle the bird had stuck in its throat.

Morning Reverie

This morning I walked from our place all the way down the beach to the pier at the Manatee County public beach. That is quite a long walk for an old guy like me. This photo is my footprints looking back towards our place. At any rate, it was great watching people begin their day by setting up their umbrellas and all the paraphernalia you need to spend a few hours at the beach. I also saw the early morning fishermen and a few joggers and shell collectors.

One thing I have noticed is several instances of what I call beach reverie. Reverie is such a great word, isn’t it? It means to be “lost in thought” or “absent-minded daydreaming.” This happens all the time at the beach. You see people sitting or standing looking out to sea with a smile on their face and who knows what on their mind. There is something magical about doing that. Your mind kind of melds with God and nature and you are swept away to another place and time. There is something eternal about it; something infinite. Birds do it too – I especially wonder what is on a bird’s mind as it stands facing into the wind looking toward the horizon.



Speaking of birds, there are tons of seashore and wading birds on AMI. This morning I saw several species of them on my extended walk. I saw a couple of blue herons, tons of laughing gulls, a few egrets, three or four white ibis, a few common terns dive-bombing the shallows for fish, and of course, a brown pelican or two. You also see other species here including herring gulls and black skimmers. The photo above is a great blue heron that was standing by the pier. The bird did not seem scared of me whatsoever and I am grateful. It was awesome to stand so close to such a magnificent creature and look into its eyes.

Today I am going to go over and see if I can get Don’s boat started and tootle around the canals a bit. I am definitely not comfortable with this. For one, the boat is totally unfamiliar to me and for another, the water is so shallow in many places it is easy to run aground. In case you see no more posts for the next few days it means I did not make it back – please send the Coast Guard! More later (hopefully!) …. Steve

Eco-Kayak Tour

On Thursday morning Donna, Amy and I took a 2.5-hour kayak tour in the canals and waters around Anna Maria Island, Florida. We met our guide and 6 other adventurers at the store that organizes the tours, Beach Bums in Anna Maria. We drove over to our launch point where our “sit-on-top” style ocean kayaks were waiting for us. The first thing we did was to get acquainted with how to handle a kayak. Our guide, Captain Scott MacGregor gave us a quick lesson. During our lesson Captain Scott pointed out a relatively rare bird sitting in a nearby mangrove, a beautiful Roseate Spoonbill. It was an exciting start to our adventure! Captain Scott is a U.S Coast Guard certified sea captain and a retired high school marine biology teacher. He has a wonderful sense of humor and kept us laughing as well as taught us about some of the wildlife, flora and fauna we ran across in the island’s rich eco-system. We learned some interesting facts. For instance, did you know that a one-acre island of mangroves can produce three tons of fish food annually as the mangrove leaves fall into the water and decay?

For those who know the area, we kayaked around the Robinson Preserve in Bimini Bay. There we saw nesting birds, including herons, pelicans, and many types of gulls. We also saw mullet jumping out of the water and, of course, lots of beautiful houses and boats lining the bay. We went up one of the many canals around the bay. Oddly enough, the canal we went up is the one Don (my Father-in-law) has his boat on. We kayaked right past his dock and it was interesting seeing things from that angle. While in the canal Captain Scott pointed out a couple of trees that are not native to the area which are causing controversy, a large shady Australian Pine and a towering Norfolk Island Pine. Originally imported to fight erosion, these trees are now outlawed in many parts of Florida due to their invasive nature, rapid growth rate, and non-native status. After Captain Scott showered Amy with pine nuts from the Australian Pine we kayaked back out of the canal and down the length of the bay. We made a brief stop halfway down the bay to get out of our kayaks and stand up in a very shallow spot (the whole bay is actually pretty shallow). After our brief rest, stretch, and a sip of much-needed water we continued on down the bay and went under the Key Royale Bridge and out into Anna Maria Sound. Once we got out in the sound Captain Scott told us that it is supposedly good luck to be able to see three bridges at once. From our vantage point in Anna Maria Sound we could see the Manatee Avenue Bridge, the Key Royale Bridge and the Sunshine Skyway Bridge. Also while we were in the sound we saw three or four dolphins. We had hoped to see a manatee somewhere along our tour, but we did not see one.

On the long paddle back to where we started out we saw more birds including a flock of parakeets that flew over the bay right in front of us making quite a racket. Everyone made it back safely, albeit with tired arms from the paddling. Especially me because I used a tandem kayak and paddled it by myself the entire way. There were not enough single kayaks for everyone and Donna and I were not willing to share a tandem – we each had to have our own kayak (some of you will understand).

This was a great adventure that allowed us to see a side of this beautiful island we would not otherwise have seen. I highly recommend the tour to anyone but must warn you that it does require some upper arm strength and the ability to stand the sun and heat. Even though our tour was in the morning, you still get pretty hot and it is a long haul. One of the people on our tour had to rely on Captain Scott for a tow for part of the way (none of us Jacksons I am happy to report!). Beach Bums does offer tandem kayaks, so if you are worried about making it you may want to share a kayak with someone else (preferably a strong paddler). The cost of the tour was $55 per person. The website for Beach Bums is here, tell them you heard about them on my blog and I am sure Captain Scott and the Beach Bums gang will throw in a free paddle and life vest with your kayak!

Birds

Have I mentioned I’m a birder? No? Well, I am, sort of. By that I mean I’m not a “gung ho” kind of birdwatcher who travels great distances to see birds, or who spends hours behind binoculars watching for birds at home, or even one who spends a lot of money and time trying to attract birds to their yard. Basically what I mean is I enjoy watching them and trying to see how many different kinds of birds pass through our yard as the seasons go by.

I have three bird feeders out now along with four hummingbird feeders. Regular visitors to my yard include the Ruby-throated Hummingbird, Carolina Chicadee, Tufted Titmouse, Northern Cardinal, Northern Flicker, Pileated Woodpecker, several species of Fly-catcher (they all look alike to me), Blue Jay, Brown Thrasher, American Crow, White-breasted Nuthatch, some kind of Wren (not sure if it’s a house wren or a Carolina wren), House Finch, American Goldfinch, Eastern Meadowlark, Robin, Eastern Bluebird, and the Mourning Dove. Oh, and of course, lots and lots of squirrels in my feeders!

The photo above is of a Barred Owl that hangs out around our house. In fact, there is more than one. We hear them fairly frequently. If you’d like to hear what an owl like this sounds like click HERE. This particular owl was sitting right behind our house on Sunday afternoon. I had been looking over at a feeder I put out on a limb just below where the owl was sitting when all of a sudden I noticed the owl. They are masters at camouflage. This guy sat there for at least 30 minutes and he kept falling asleep. I had time to go inside and get my camera and come out and take several photos of him. He did not seem to mind. Eventuallly he flew to the ground as if he was going to catch a mouse or something, but when he landed there wasn't anything there. He just flew down from the tree to the ground, swiveled his head around a few times, and then he flew off. I’m sure we'll see him again though, because like I said, we see and hear them fairly frequently.

We have had a few hummingbirds so far – but not too many. It’s a little early yet. In time we’ll have them fighting over the feeders we have situated around the house. I love to watch them set up their little territory and then bomb any intruder that tries to feed at “their” feeder. They are amazing little birds.

All in all, I feel close to God watching birds – actually I feel close to Him any time I’m out in nature. God is so creative and his creation so precious and beautiful!

Weekend Fun

We've had a great weekend. We enjoyed the warm temps yesterday and got all our hummingbird feeders out (4 of them). We have already seen a few hummingbirds!

Today we got our regular bird feeders up. We’re ready now for any kind of bird that might come by. Today I had to rescue a female cardinal that got trapped in our garage. I finally had to just grab her. Unfortunately she decided to bite me when I grabbed her. She didn’t break the skink, but wow, it really hurt! She pinched a blood blister on my finger.

We also had a good day at church. Our crowd was down due to Spring Break; but we were not off that much. Donna and I were going to head to Highlands for a few days, but the cold temps that are forecast for the next few days have caused us to stick close to home. We’ll have a fine time here though; and we’ll be even more ready for Easter.

God is Good!