“Babe! Did that pelican just eat a bird?” I am standing on the Oceanside Pier with my boyfriend, it’s a chilly partly sunny fall day and the pelicans are extremely friendly.
And possibly way to hungry.
And possibly way to hungry. It’s weird, and it’s Halloween today so maybe a little spooky?
“What?” He’s checking out the pelican who is just chilling near us as a creature flutters back and forth in it’s throat.
Now that’s creepy.
“Looks! It’s in his throat fluttering around! It’s still alive! Are pelicans carnivores?”
This is the moment when I realize the fisher man next to be us is giving me a strange look.
We are mountain people and it’s the same look we mountain folk reserve for people who eat yellow snow. ( above five thousand feet we call these tourists flat landers)
As the tiny thin neck of the pelican wobbles and shakes and he finally finishes his delectable feathery meal, another fisherman wanders by and informs us that no, pelicans are not carnivores.
The first fisherman ( the one giving us the stink eye) threw a tiny mackerel to the greedy pelican. ( We missed the throw) and yes, now we are the benefactors of that old “flat landers” glare, only this happened at sea level.
Later in the evening as we donned Halloween costumes and hung out with friends who live here locally we were told these friendly pelicans actually always hang out at the Oceanside Pier, and they actually have names.
The hungry one is Charlie.
