Morning on the Beach

September 28, 2011

“This is worth getting out of bed for!” The only other person on the beach this morning, walking past me, toward the upcoming pink-gold sun slipping slowly into the dim sky, with something of a glazed grin on his face. I could only agree with a similar stupor.

Indeed, the mornings on the beach, especially before the sun comes up, then watching it come up, along with all the flight life that awakens with it, ARE worth getting out of bed for! Now that the tourist season is pretty much over, the beaches are nearly empty in the mornings, with only a few seasoned locals, a couple of curiosity seekers, and an occasional jogger or two to join the ranks of pelicans and seagulls. Oh, and the sandpipers! They are a trip here! They are still jittery little guys, but are also curious enough to come up close to a human sitting still. Probably, my guess, in search of some morsel of food.

Feeding the birds is so much fun on the beach!!!! It’s a real show, and certainly an attention-getter! I took a bag of popcorn out a few mornings ago, and within about 5 seconds, had a crowd of no fewer than 50 seagulls around me. Squawking and flapping, jumping and pecking, the race was on!!!! The ones that really wanted to eat caught my thrown-in-the-air pieces mid-air. So cool!!! Then, the crowds moved upward!! They were swooping and dipping and diving right over my head, looking like a trained seagull act! One brown one would come flying straight toward my head, catch the popcorn, fly over my head, and circle back around for the next kernel. He did this again and again, and it was poetry in motion!! My neighbor told me that if you take food down often enough, they will spot you before you get on the beach, and greet you en masse! She seemed to speak from experience. Not sure I want to be THAT enthusiastic about feeding them……………

One of my favorite things about living by the ocean (’Gulf’) is the pelicans. And since I live so close to the water (gulf across the street, sound in my back yard), they fly by the house during the day and evening. It just really takes my breath away every time I see them!!! Sometimes they fly solo, oftentimes in pairs, and my favorite, in V formation!!!! During the tropical storms that came through over Labor Day weekend (THAT was an interesting four days!!!), I saw a few V’s of 12-20 pelicans at once, and oh, my gosh, what a sight to behold! They are really big birds, and so quiet in flight, so all their presence is in their size and their grace.
I looked up Pelican in Indian Medicine, and here’s what I found ~

Pelican people can rise to the top no matter what life throws at them,
no matter how weighed down they become with life’s trials and tribulations.
Emotional turmoil is often the weight in a Pelican person’s life.
Pelican teaches you how not to be overcome by your troubles,
but rather to rise above them.

Pelican shares nesting sites and food with others and
therefore teaches unselfishness.
Teamwork is key for a person with a Pelican totem.

　Amen!