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On the last day of our first trip to Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge, my wife and I were at the last pool on the refuge driving trail just minutes away from leaving for home.  It was still on the early side of the morning, just before 9am and the light coming from the east was strong but not overly so to cause harsh light on the surrounding wildlife and landscape.  It was another beautiful morning in Florida, and we were sorry to have to head home and leave our newest nature and wildlife sanctuary.

As we were preparing to leave, we spotted in the distance some white birds making their way towards us.  They were scattered across the sky, in separate groupings and even at a great distance it did not take long to realize they were White Pelicans. Over the next 15 minutes or so the pelicans came flying in, individually or in groups, landing in the refuge pool not far from us.  It is always a treat to see these large birds come flying in, grouped together this way.  Being one of the largest flying birds in the world, weighing nearly 20 pounds and having a wingspan of 9 feet, it takes some effort to land this avian aircraft.   As White Pelicans come in for a landing, it is a somewhat lengthy process.  They come in on a slow glide, wings spread and as they approach the water’s surface, they put those bright orange webbed feet out, like landing gear on a 747.  They carefully skid across the water’s surface as they slowly come to a stop, then give their tail feathers a shake before wadding on through the water.  After they all arrived, my wife and I watched as they interacted with each other, flying and chattering about, forming into pods as they started to feed on the pool’s grass bed.

During this time, we also had the treat of the arrival of 3 Wood Storks, all flying in and landing in a small group of mangroves in the center of this large water pool.  I was able to grab a capture of one the storks coming in for a landing, spreading its wings full in the bright sunlight.  I love the contrast of their white and dark feathers and how their feathers will show their glossy reflections sporting their beautiful iridescence.

As we were watching the pelican activity, I watched this one pod of pelicans form together as they floated along feeding on the pool’s grass bed.  As they would feed, each pelican would dip its head deep into the water completely submerging its head and neck as it would reach to the bottom of the pool to grab mouthfuls of grass.  They would throw their heads back hard as they tried to get the grass deeper in their mouths to swallow.  Back and forth we watched this action, each pelican having its own rhythm of feeding, head in, head out, constant movement of hungry White Pelicans feeding.  

As this pod of about 25 pelicans floated slowly to my left, they started to form into a line, parallel to the shore as they fed.   I moved down to my left, found some foreground foliage that I could use as a potential element for a capture, and I waited.  As the pelicans started to move into my planned location for my capture, the line they had formed became more defined and the pelicans on the ends turned towards the center of the line.  It was like they were getting together for a planned group portrait.  It was a delight to see.  I was lucky as all things came together and I was able to grab a capture that made me happy and will be a reminder of the last few minutes of our first trip to Merrit Island NWR.