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 So here's what happened with the pelican rescue. I drove over to the Project Greenshores area to see what I could see. There's a little gravel road that runs along the bay and I was just creeping along, looking out over the water and trying to find something to shoot. A few birds were out on the rocks and a few people were fishing on the bank but nothing very exciting. I could see the clouds from 'The Fog Clears' but this wasn't a good angle so I was about to head over the bridge. Then something caught my attention. A man and his son were standing up on the seawall. The dad had something hooked and was pulling it in. I always like to see what comes in, so I waited. I looked out over the water and saw a pelican swimming toward the shore. But he looked funny. His beak was jutting out in front. Then I figured out what was going on. They had hooked the pelican by the beak and were pulling it in. Oh my. I got out of the car and went over to see what was going to happen. Two or three other fishermen had come over to see too. When they got him to the seawall, he was just sitting in the water with a hook in his beak, looking up at us. We were just standing there with our beaks open, looking at him. Then he flapped and tangled the line on a wing. He wiggled free but things were looking bad. One guy said he was going to have to cut the line but a more seasoned and sensible fisherman said that would kill the bird. He had a plan. He sent a kid back to his gear and he came back with some gloves and needle nose pliers. The pelican was about three feet below us in the water. This was going to be awkward. The guy who caught the bird put on the gloves, got on his belly and leaned over the wall. I had to lie down on one side of him and the older fisherman was on the other. They pulled the line to bring the bird’s beak up in the air. He got a good hold on the beak and pulled him up a little to be able to reach. I reached down and held one side of the pelican and the other fisherman held the other side so he wouldn't start flapping and hurt himself. Those were the softest feathers I've ever felt. They used the pliers and as gently as possible worked the hook out. He was free. We sat the bird back down in the water and he swam back to his friends in the bay. But he wasn't gone long. Turns out the guys were just fishing with small bait fish and the pelican decided it wanted one. Got more than that. After I heard the story, we all said our attaboys and went our separate ways. I went back to my car and got my camera to try to get a shot of the pelican before he went too far. When I got back to the shore, one of the fishermen saw me and asked if I wanted the birds to be closer. I asked what he meant. He reached in his bait bucket, pulled out a fish and tossed it out into the water. The pelican saw it coming and took off across the water toward us. He dove in head first just a few yards away (seen here), grabbed the fish and flew off. Cool. But then I started to wonder if this was one reason the pelican was hooked in the first place. Playing a little too close to we hairless apes. So when he asked if I wanted him to toss another one, I told him no. I said I had plenty of shots from the first one. Thanks. Very tempting but something felt weird about it. After a few minutes the pelicans, including the one that was hooked, flew off. As far as I could tell, he was doing just fine. Posted by blbutler on December 7th, 2005 Archived under: B&W, Nature, Birds, Wordplay |
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