Thirteen of us went kayaking in the
Our nature guide taught us a lot about the flora and the
fauna in an estuary like this one. There were white pelicans that she
described
as the princesses of the pelican world. They stick to themselves in the
grass
far away from the muddy shores, continuously preening themselves and
looking
good. The brown pelicans stayed in the mudflats, generally sliding
around and
getting dirty.
The brown pelicans fish by flying low until they see a fish when they spiral up in the air until they apparently stall, and fall the water with a half turn just before they crash. They hit the water with their chests, which includes a bladder that they inflate just before the collision. There is a method in the madness, however, since the shock wave from the crash stuns the anchovies that the pelicans then scope up in their beaks.
The princesses have a more elegant approach.
Since schools
of anchovies tend to swim in circles, the white pelicans form a group
and swirl
the water in a counter direction to the fish school. This stops the
fish in the
water, which the pelicans then snap up.
Here is the kayak
photo album. We enjoyed it enough to put it on the list for next
year.