Tuesday, July 11, 2006

Pelicans

Pelicans are neat, especially when they fly in a big group. I'm not sure about this but it seems like they have a 'pattern' of flapping their wings while they're in formation, using a domino effect. The bird in front flaps while the others behind glide, then just as soon as it stops, the next bird flaps and as it's about to stop, the bird behind him begins to flap and so on and so on.

We went out to visit family at my parent's house in Pacifica. Eric usually drives out along the Great Highway and there was a group of pelicans, about 4 or 5, flying along the beach. As it turns out, my nieces and nephew were out eating dinner with my brother and a family friend out in Japantown. So no one was home, but I got to see pelicans! After eating Mexican food in South City, we made our way back towards Hwy 35 and saw a large group of pelicans flying, about 20-25 of them. They looked like a string of black origami birds in the sky. I kept watching until I couldn't see them anymore.

I like watching them fly. I've seen a bunch of them up and down the coast but I haven't been able to get any good photos of them. This past Saturday, we took the kiddies down to Fisherman's Wharf & Pier 39 and oook! A bunch of pelicans were flying low and near the piers. I finally got a shot, not the best, but at least it was a lot of them and they were flying. The photo is missing about half the group in front. They flew by so fast and I was using the zoom feature, I couldn't quite locate them through the viewfinder fast enough.