Summer Company!

The solitary resident American Pelican had some company drop in for a few weeks:

I wonder if Pelican 1's presence attracted the others somehow. "Dudes, the cocktails at this bar are really good. You haaave to try the Brackish Algae mojito; can you believe it's muddled in a concrete trough? Soooo retro. "


Later I saw two of them swimming together, doing some "repeat after me" style foraging. First swim:

Then dabble...

They're so funny; they're like gigantic ducks when they do that. I wonder if their synchronized movements are related to breeding at all... the Western grebes do something similar, although their moves are clearly for style, whereas the pelicans could have been just eating.

Also, I noticed that their bumps are indeed gone, to the great keratin graveyard... this one just has a tiny trace of beak bump left:


On a slightly related note, I spotted a few other unlikely summer visitors the other day--a pied billed grebe, a ring-billed gull, and two coots. Where did they come from, where are they going? The Pelican has a diverse group of friends, that's all I can say.