Pelican

Part of the series: Vancouver to the Grand Canyon and Back Again!

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Pelican turning

At another pullout along the road, we were breathing in the ocean air, absorbing as much as we could of the crashing waves, and admiring the hills covered in summer wildflowers when I noticed a pelican circling above us.

It did a lazy turn in the air, and then started drifting down to land. Which it did, about 6 feet from me.

And while I felt like it was gently coming in to land, Angharad and Juanita, who both missed the initial turn and the beginning of the descent, thought it was dive-bombing me.

Pelican beginning to descend

Pelican landing beside me

This was the beginning of our many imagined close encounters with large birds.

And caused us, yet again, belly-shaking laughter.

The pelican was decidedly unaffected by our presence, and waddled (do pelicans waddle?) over to the stones marking the edge of the cliff where he very kindly posed for pictures.

After admiring him for a while, we continued on our way. We stopped a few more times - having successfully gotten a picture of a pelican, I REALLY wanted a picture of a California condor.

Pelican posing for pictures

Pelican along the Big Sur coastline

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Elephant Seals     >>