The Brown Pelicans of Cabo San Lucas

After settling into the hotel room, we sat out on the deck to watch the ocean.  In twos and threes, squadrons of brown pelicans swing around the rocks and glide in front of the advancing waves, climbing over the top just as the water crests and slams into the beach.

American white pelicans summer in lakes across the Canadian prairies but I had never seen their cousins, the brown pelican, in the wild before.  So, I was quite excited that these huge birds (they have wingspans up to seven feet) were residents near our vacation spot.  For the next couple of days, I went down to the water’s edge and enjoyed taking shots of them on the beach, fishing in the water and flying along the coastline.

When we finally went into town and spent the day around the marina and the beaches along the Sea of Cortés, I was surprised at the number of pelicans settled into the dockside environment.  They play the role of seagulls down there, massing on the boats and docks as well as lounging on the rock ledges along Land’s End.  There are native gulls down there as well but they do not appear to have anywhere near the same numbers as the pelicans.

At the narrow entrance to the harbour, the pelicans bob in the water waiting.  As sportfishing boats return to the marina, the birds fly up and follow just off the stern, expecting to get scraps from the fishermen.

On a water taxi from the main beach area to the marina we detoured out to Land’s End where we found clusters of pelicans throughout the rock formations vying for space with cormorants and gulls.

On our last morning before heading home, I went down to the beach early and sat down to watch some of the birds who seemed to just be lounging around, in no rush to start their day.

Great fun to be able to see these impressive birds in a wide variety of places.  I feel lucky to be able to have seen them displaying the many different ways they live out the day.