Travel, pelican flight

This image has been in my head for the last week. I have been wanting to post it but haven't found the time to sit down, locate it on my hard drive, and write a short blurb about it to post  here. In the past week, I've taken a boat trip out to the Farallon Islands, flown to Albuquerque, taken a tram up Sandia Peak while there, and flown back to San Francisco. It's been a busy travel week! Best of all, I've gotten to share this with others close to me.

Brown pelican formation, Salt Point, 2011.

I photo'd these brown pelicans last spring as they patrolled the coastline at Salt Point State Park. They came over a crest where I sat, then swooped down to the water's surface, where they flew into the distance low over the water they way they do, taking advantage of the aerodynamics of flying low on the water. I marvel at how their wingtips miss the water's surface. 

The pelican is an amazing animal, but I'm not the first to recognize it (thanks for the poem, Dad):

THE PLIGHT OF THE PELICAN

Ogden Nash
A wonderful bird is the pelican,
His bill will hold more than his belican;
He takes in his beak enough food for a week,
But I'm damned if I see how the helican.