After scoping out the Dunedin Downtown Market on Saturday, I strolled downtown towards the Marina. I was drawn to the pier as I watched people fishing, and sailboats and tour boats coming and going.
A couple of brown pelicans in hot pursuit of breakfast caught my attention and I watched one in particular successfully capture and swallow 10 whole fish. He never came up empty, not once! The Pelican would casually ride the waves, only to spot a nearby fish below and then suddenly dive on them. Spectacular to watch, the brown pelican plunges headlong into the water in pursuit of fish, and then coming to the surface with the fish in his bill, he tilts his bill down to drain water out of pouch and then tosses his head back to swallow the fish.
Simply amazing to watch, especially considering it sometimes takes fisherman all day to catch only one or two fish!
Upon a quick google search, I discovered that as recently as the early 1970s, the Brown Pelican was seriously endangered. The abundance of the Brown Pelicans we see today in the United States is a success story for conservationists who succeeded in halting the use of DDT and other persistent pesticides.
This lovely photo of two brown pelicans was taken at the Downtown Dunedin Pier by Jazzersten.
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