Roberto
Guest
I've been making a sort of informal observational study of Pelican behavior along the beach and am wondring if anyone can add something.
It's fun to watch a slipstreaming line go by. Watch the lead bird and count how many times it flaps between glides. I've been coming up with the magic number 7 + or - 4, a magical number to research psychologists since it appears in so many different contexts. The flapping works it's way back the line, with 2 or 3 adjoining birds flapping until they reach the magic number. Often the entire line is gliding for a short time until the lead bird loses altitude and starts the process over again. The entire line undulates like a snake gaining altitude while flapping then the slow decline while gliding. All in all a lovely dance of nature.
Watching them feeding is fun too. If there is a lot of feed available, they simply float along in groups and gobble down what they catch by poking their heads under water. Often they will fly to gain some altitude, seems like just about enough to permit the bird to attain a verticle posture during the fall to the sea. They don' t seem to extend their long necks during the dive which surprised me at first. When the beak enters the water it seems to be on a line above and parallel to the line of the body of the bird. The neck is crooked at entry to the water as it appears to exit the skull at about a 45 degree angle from the long beak. The wings are partially extended at entry too, not streamlined back along the body as one might expect during a dive. Might absorbe some of the force of entry into the water so as not to break the already crooked neck.
When they catch something they seem to hold their head and beak under water for some time and they wiggle their tail feathers. Interesting. Must be counterbalancing some movement under water. Maybe movements made to get the catch firmly into the pouch as I seldom observed any silver at the beak when the head comes out of the water. Based on the movements of the head after it comes out of the water I would guess it is working the fish out of the pouch and into the throat at that point. You can see how this underwater routine is useful as virtually every time I observed a pelican dive one or two smaller sea birds immediately fly to the diver and hover around, and peck the pelican's head as if they are trying to force a mistake so they can snag the fish.
I wonder if the pelican actually spears the fish or scoops it into the pouch. From what I can observe the beak is opened at entry to the water, but only slightly. Must be an awful squirt of water into the pouch and neck that has to be controlled some how or the bird would qickley choke, wouldn't you think.
Anyone know how to tell a male from a female? Is there a typical reproductive time of the year? Can't say I can recall seeing what I would call immature birds based on size.
It's fun to watch a slipstreaming line go by. Watch the lead bird and count how many times it flaps between glides. I've been coming up with the magic number 7 + or - 4, a magical number to research psychologists since it appears in so many different contexts. The flapping works it's way back the line, with 2 or 3 adjoining birds flapping until they reach the magic number. Often the entire line is gliding for a short time until the lead bird loses altitude and starts the process over again. The entire line undulates like a snake gaining altitude while flapping then the slow decline while gliding. All in all a lovely dance of nature.
Watching them feeding is fun too. If there is a lot of feed available, they simply float along in groups and gobble down what they catch by poking their heads under water. Often they will fly to gain some altitude, seems like just about enough to permit the bird to attain a verticle posture during the fall to the sea. They don' t seem to extend their long necks during the dive which surprised me at first. When the beak enters the water it seems to be on a line above and parallel to the line of the body of the bird. The neck is crooked at entry to the water as it appears to exit the skull at about a 45 degree angle from the long beak. The wings are partially extended at entry too, not streamlined back along the body as one might expect during a dive. Might absorbe some of the force of entry into the water so as not to break the already crooked neck.
When they catch something they seem to hold their head and beak under water for some time and they wiggle their tail feathers. Interesting. Must be counterbalancing some movement under water. Maybe movements made to get the catch firmly into the pouch as I seldom observed any silver at the beak when the head comes out of the water. Based on the movements of the head after it comes out of the water I would guess it is working the fish out of the pouch and into the throat at that point. You can see how this underwater routine is useful as virtually every time I observed a pelican dive one or two smaller sea birds immediately fly to the diver and hover around, and peck the pelican's head as if they are trying to force a mistake so they can snag the fish.
I wonder if the pelican actually spears the fish or scoops it into the pouch. From what I can observe the beak is opened at entry to the water, but only slightly. Must be an awful squirt of water into the pouch and neck that has to be controlled some how or the bird would qickley choke, wouldn't you think.
Anyone know how to tell a male from a female? Is there a typical reproductive time of the year? Can't say I can recall seeing what I would call immature birds based on size.
