PELICANS IN FLIGHT

      Brown pelicans and American white pelicans live and nest in North America.  And although they are large and appear bulky on land and water, both species are elegant and graceful when in flight.  Their flight is beautiful, entertaining and inspiring, particularly when highlighted before a landscape or silhouetted against the sky.  Airborne pelicans seem to be works of art!

     Being related, the relaxed, spell-binding flights of both kinds of pelicans are similar.  They fly in rows, lines or V's, with each bird evenly spaced among its fellows.  Pelicans in rows resemble chorus lines that often undulate from one side to the other as the birds alternately flap and soar together as if one.  They seem to rehearse their flight patterns.  

     Pelicans flying in lines follow each other with slow, measured flaps, as they sweep along rapidly, as if the birds are cars of a train on aerial train tracks.  Interestingly, a ripple in a line of flying pelicans caused by one bird going over or under an imaginary object, causes all the following pelicans, in turn, to avoid that phantom object in the sky.  And all the while, their heads and large beaks are drawn back over their necks. 

     Both kinds of pelicans also rise in thermals of heated air.  Round and round whole flocks of pelicans gracefully swirl as they climb higher ad higher, without a single wingbeat.  When they can climb no higher, the flocks pour out of the thermals and away in lines.             

     American white pelicans are inland birds that nest around Canada's lakes and spend winters in the southern United States.  I see them in the air and on water because of a live camera at Lake Onalaska in Wisconsin, and our home computer screen.

     However, I see brown pelicans "in the flesh" along the Atlantic Coast from Georgia to North Carolina in April during the years I visit that coastline.  These magnificent birds are always a pleasure to see flying swiftly, high or low, over beaches and breakers on their way to nesting islands as far north as the middle of the Chesapeake Bay.  Flock after flock of north-bound brown pelicans passes over any given beach, each majestic bird in powerful flight in wavering lines, rows or V's among its fellows.  I never become tired of seeing these wonderful birds heading north in April.

     Watch for these large, handsome birds when near large bodies of water.  They are rewarding to see, especially when in flight.     

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