Graceful Mass

Along the southern coastal areas of the United States a large, but yet graceful  mass of a bird can be found residing in flocks, crowding about on ledges and spaces along the pacific ocean beaches.  It is the Brown Pelican (Pelecanus occidentalis).  This large bird mainly eats fish, as it dives beak first into the ocean waves to catch its prey.

In Southern California, not a day goes by that I don't see a flock of brown pelicans soaring along the coastline in a follow-the-leader formation.  Often times, they will divert out over the ocean a bit, just barely clearing the heads of perched surfers waiting for that one special wave, as the big birds look for food.

 

 
In La Jolla, CA, there is a special area where the brown pelicans love to perch in colonies to sun and clean themselves.   La Jolla Cove is a semi-protected area of rock formations which gives the flocks of pelicans a place to land and preen.

A numbers of species of birds such as the egret, Cormorants, and a variety of seagulls all fight for the limited space with the pelican to rest and groom themselves.

The brown pelican is an interesting bird to observe.  The agility of the pelican's neck to bend and cork-screw about his body to preen is amazing to watch.  The large beak helps as he separates the feather to search out the bugs and other objects which he plucks.

 
Out on the edges of the water, among the rocks, the harbor seals bellow at one another as a pelican is on short final for the edge of the rock while seagulls pay no attention to the intruder.

The brown pelican has a beautiful plume with various colors on its head. Some have a red area on the gular pouch.

But it is the flying and flight maneuvers such as the landing which fascinate me:  the big soaring wings with deep slots at the end of the primary feathers are used to precisely land the large mass of the bird.

   

The up swept and vertical wing helps the pelican slip through the air just before it opens its wing to almost hover down onto the landing point.

As with anything in the day in which we live, it takes a bit of time and observation to see the marvelous and glorious creations about us.  The brown pelican is just one of those amazing creations which deserves the time to stop and consider its magnificence.

Caño Negro Wild Life Refuge

Located near the Nicaraguan border in a marshy, jungle-like area, the Caño Negro Wildlife Refuge is a wonderful place to visit while staying in Costa Rica to get a sense of the expansive habitat and ecosystem that evolves in that important part of Central America.  

A float trip down the flooded Rio Frio doesn’t actually place you inside the wild life refuge but it gives the nature enthusiast access to all the birds, animals, reptiles and monkeys which are found within the actual sanctuary, as they inhabit the banks and canyons along the river.  

The little village of Los Chiles, about 2 miles from the Nicaraguan border, is about 2 hours’ drive from La Fortuna, located in the Arenal Volcano area.   The road to Los Chiles is hard-paved but once you get to the turnoff at the Immigration checkpoint, be prepared for a wash-board ride on a bumpy gravel road.  For about 20 minutes, as we slowly jostled along the road, we passed flooded marshland which held the occasional herd of cattle and the requisite flocks of egrets hanging about.  When we arrived at the river, there was a little restaurant where there were two river boats tied waiting for passengers. 

During our tour in late December, the rainy season had not stopped and the banks of the Rio Frio were overflowing into the lowlands.  The current of the river was rather swift and several times during the float, the heavens opened with a rain shower reminding me that the first word in “rainforest” is “rain.”

The boat captain and the guide were extremely knowledgeable and diligent as they searched along the banks for interesting birds or animals.  Here are just a few which they found:

The large iguanas were perched up in the trees sunning themselves whenever there was  break in the clouds.

We saw the tree species of monkeys along the banks of the Rio Frio:  Howler (1st image), the spider, and then the white-faced monkey (image 2 and 3).   The last image is of the two deciding to "attack" the boat when they realized we were sitting there observing.  Gave everyone a "cheap" thrill!

Or should I say a "scare" because of the amount of noise they made and their sudden aggression.

And of course the birds were plentiful along the swollen banks of the river.  Their plumage and beauty was breath-taking.

The Caño Negro Wildlife Refuge is a "must see" if you are in the area while enjoying a vacation to the Arenal Volcano area.