A few minutes after that photo was taken, Dad was back on the other end of the dock fishing, and the pelican was sitting literally about two feet from me at the edge of the dock. My hook was in the water. Tim came back from a bait run, and walked up behind me and the pelican, who got nervous and decided to fly off-- over the water, and directly into my fishing line. The line caught him right on the wing, and he got hooked. Well, of course he fell into the water and started flipping out, flailing around. I finally pulled him back to the dock and was able to reach a wing and pull him up onto the surface. He was snapping at me with his big ol' pelican bill. Dad was able to hold its neck while Tim held the hooked wing, and I dug the hook out. When we let him go, he hauled ass to a pier about 50 yards away, where he sat on top of a piling and pruned at his wing.
I took my next fish down to him, and even though he wouldn't come up close to me, he did land on the dock and take it when I threw it down. Two minutes later, he was sitting next to me on our dock again.
I didn't even feel it at the time, but he managed to pinch me on the leg when he was caught up.
His bill came pretty close to my face a couple of times. Close enough that he got my hair. Oh, and I almost forgot-- during the scuffle, he actually puked up the fish I had just fed him!
Leave it to us to nearly kill an endangered species with a piece of string and an inch-long hook.
4 comments:
Hiya!
So I'm a bird nerd...that's a young pelican based on its feathers. Either someone did a no no and took him away as a chick and fed him (hence the lack of fear around humans) or he's just well...stupid. I foresee bad things happening to that poor bird. Someone is probably going to hook him again and not care like you did.
I'm envious that you got that close and had that interaction with him. Pelicans are clumsy but they are so cool. I love the picture of you tossing that fish to him. :)
Dauphin Island is known for being a bird sanctuary. There's even an audobon bird sanctuary here. It's in an estuary, and there are tons and tons of water fowl in the area. And there are a lot of people, so a lot of the birds are less shy than you'd expect. There's also a blue heron who hangs out nearby and comes up when you catch fish, but she doesn't come quite as close, and keeps her distance when this pelican is around.
Fowl River is right up the road. We went to Bellingrath Gardens and took a boat tour on Fowl River, and saw a lot of neat birds, including ospreys. If you're a bird nerd, this is a good place to visit.
Ohhhh, well his behavior makes sense if he's used to being around a lot of bird nerds!
I was down in Orange Beach, Al last fall for a bird-related conference but didn't have the time or get the chance to go down to Dauphin Island. Hmm, mebbe this spring I may go down there...it's actually only a day drive if I don't make too many pee stops. I have heard Dauphin Island is a great place during spring migration.
I'll be darned. Diva told me, but I didn't want to believe it... but after reading this story I can't deny that the bird IS the word.
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