Many of the ponds and lakelets serve as breeding grounds for the American White Pelican. They're with us for quite a while in the summer time. These are big fellows with an eight-foot wingspan. They look clumsy and ungainly but they are wonderful flyers and can soar on our high plains winds like expensive Swiss sailplanes.
This bunch was on one of the larger ponds.
Posts
4 comments:
I can never let my wife know about this! She would drive straight there and you would have a crazy lady saying "Come here babies, Momma loves you" wandering around the prairie. To say she loves them would be a HUGE understatement. I know what you mean about them being graceful fliers. We came over the causeway from Galveston Saturday and at 65mph I was having a hard time overtaking them as they used the wind on the trailing edge of the bridge to glide towards Houston. I would guestimate they were moving at around 55mph. Thank you for all the great pictures, they have helped me daydream and relax more times than you can imagine.
Thanks, sanjac, for the kind words. It's a real pleasure for me to help people learn about a very different way of life. Some city-folk tend to think the sun rises and sets on them and that just ain't the facts. There are still a few of us left out here in the "boonies."
Who would have believed there were Pelicans that far inland. Wonder what they find to eat, are there enough fish for that mob in those small ponds?
They're eating something! They come back every year and act like they're at a resort.
Post a Comment