Pelican Land

The lomo effect applied to photos produces high contrast, skewed colors, and vignetting.  It is based on the look of film photographs taken with the Russian plastic camera, the Lomo.  There is a world-wide society of enthusiasts.  Wikipedia tells about it.  They also say that one of the improved models of the Lomo camera is called the Diana camera. Photo for SkywatchFriday

While visiting Redondo Beach, California and taking a leisurely walk along the pier, I spotted this Pelican up on the roof posing in an unusual manner. No doubt, he was either yawning and stretching or waiting for his early morning bird-catch-of-the-day! Aren't they amazing and somewhat peculiar?

Wikipedia says...

Pelicans are a genus of large water birds comprising the family Pelecanidae. They are characterised by a long beak and large throat pouch used in catching prey and draining water from the scooped up contents before swallowing. They have predominantly pale plumage, the exceptions being the Brown and Peruvian Pelicans. The bills, pouches and bare facial skin of all species become brightly coloured before the breeding season. The eight living pelican species have a patchy global distribution, ranging latitudinally from the tropics to the temperate zone, though they are absent from interior South America as well as from polar regions and the open ocean. Fossil evidence of pelicans dates back at least 30 million years, to the remains of a beak very similar to that of modern species recovered from Oligocene strata in France.

Long thought to be related to frigatebirds, cormorants, tropicbirds, gannets and boobies, pelicans are now known instead to be most closely related to the Shoebill and Hammerkop, and are placed in the order Pelecaniformes. Ibises, spoonbills and herons are more distant relatives, and have been classified in the same order. Pelicans frequent inland and coastal waters where they feed principally on fish, catching them at or near the water surface. Gregarious birds, they often hunt cooperatively and breed colonially. Four white-plumaged species tend to nest on the ground, and four brown or grey-plumaged species nest mainly in trees.

The relationship between pelicans and people has often been contentious. The birds have been persecuted because of their perceived competition with commercial and recreational fishers. They have suffered from habitat destruction, disturbance and environmental pollution, and three species are of conservation concern. They also have a long history of cultural significance in mythology, and in Christian and heraldic iconography."

5/5 stars for storyteller and anthologist Hugh Lupton. I recommend the stories and poems from many cultures found in this beautiful hardcover book with gorgeous illustrations. Here is a list of the contents:

The Golden-Eye Hatches the World
The Eagle Above Us
The Pigeon, the Sparrow-Hawk and the Theft of Fire
The Birds of Rhiannon
The Swallow and the Snake
Chicken
The Raven and the Whale
Song for the Vulture Dance
The King of the Birds
Bird Song
The Eagle and the Child
Blue Cuckoo, Red-Belted Coucal
The Songs of the Birds
Magpie Song
The Golden Bird
Swan-Call
The Hunter and the Sparrow
Crowned Crane

The Friday 56

"There was a divide now between the humans and the birds, a gap that could not be bridged. The boy looked down at his feathers and he knew that they did not belong on his body any longer. He pulled them out until the ground at his feet was bright with them. He put on his clothes. When he looked down, his talons had become toes again." From The Song of the Birds (Brazilian)

Do you have a favorite scene in a book involving birds that you can recall reading? Or perhaps you have a favorite memory of strolling along the beach and seeing brown pelicans in flight? When our children were little, we had many dogs and cats. I recall having parakeets, finches and pigeons, too.

Here is one grandson playing the toy piano, while Noah's pretend moose and family dog, "Abby" listen to the joyful sound! LadyD Books is linking with Color Connection

Brown Pelican Buy From Art.com

 “You can’t get a cup of tea big enough or a book long enough to suit me." C. S. Lewis