Day 4 of pelicans circling overhead and congregating on the beach. You can see the pelicans on the right side of this picture, huddled against the driftwood. Today we had a bit of south wind with some weather approaching. This seemed to get the flocks of pelicans flying very high up above the ridges. At first I thought they were turkey vultures but sure enough, they were pelicans flying upwards of 1000′ elevation-far above Whale Point. And they were stalling down the canyon and landing on the beach and the creek again. Some must have been landing in the creek upstream because there was a dead one impinged on a log several hundred meters up the canyon. I also found a dead bird on the flat just under the highway bridge. It seemed to have walked off on it’s own and died as there was no damage to the body.
These birds don’t seem oiled. Their feathers look fairly normal. However, they are certainly tired. Most of them are sleeping on the beach with their bills tucked under the wings. There is rain coming tonight. We’ll see if they show up again tomorrow.
