From The Heights. #39 From the Past.

Good morning on this chilly, though mostly sunny, Saturday morning! It does seem like the clouds are trying to finally cover the sky with their large fluffy blanket. A little gray looking on this side though. That could mean some snow. And, according to the forecast, snow is coming to our area. Not much though. It is also going to be very windy, which will make it feel colder than it is.

But, it is winter, these things are to be expected. Since Christmas is just a month away, we do need more snow. It is nice to have a mountain of snow around at Christmas. It looks nice that way. Personally I would not mind having a green Christmas for a change, but that is just me.

Coming in for a landing with his friends, the one under him had just landed too.

Speaking of summer. A nice warm summer day. There I am, 3 summers ago, walking along the path to the river. I stop to take some pics of wildflowers and I hear a noise on the other side of the bushes where I was. Sounded like something was walking, and then went onto the path. But I could not see through those bushes, nor could I see the path since it curves right there as it goes downhill.

I heard nothing else, so back to the wildflower pics. Then I continued walking and just around the curve, and right on the path, was a pile of bear poop. Very fresh too. So guess my friend on the other side of the bushes was a bear. But he was obviously going in a different direction than me, so I continued walking down to the river.

Landing gear down and ready to slide on the water. I missed his actual landing due to an interruption.

The water level was very high that summer so the usual rocky areas along the river were underwater. The White Pelicans like sitting on those rocks, so now they needed a new place to sit. That was great since it brought them closer to me. I just love watching those huge birds. They are the largest birds we have around here with a wingspan that can be up to 10 feet.

That beats all of the other birds by quite a bit. Anyway, they are huge birds, with huge beaks. They can look a little comical at times, especially trying to preen their feathers. They seem to enjoy sitting right next to each other on whatever rocks they can find to sit on. And it can get crowded at times. So they bump into each other when preening their feathers.

This one still has lots of gray so he is likely a 2 or 3 year old bird. They have full adult plumage at about 4 or 5 years, then they get a bump, or sail, on their beak and are ready to mate.

That can knock them right over. But it does not seem to bother them at all. They just get back up and continue preening. I could sit down their all day watching those birds. I just find them to be a fascinating bird. It was nice having that high water level so I could get lots of photos of those birds. I never did sit their all day, but I sometimes sat their for 3 hours.

They would sometimes get curious and swim over close to me, which gave me even better photo opportunities. Sitting by the river was so relaxing. Very peaceful. That was my place of solitude. Most of the time I never saw any other people along there.

Another one soaring past just above the water.

I kept track one summer and about 1 out of 20 times I would meet some people, usually just one other person. So I could just enjoy the solitude of that peaceful river setting. And the White Pelicans. Well, it is completely cloudy now. I hope you all have a wonderful weekend and God bless!

Steve and Muffin.

©2023 Steve McLeod.