What's Wrong With the *&%$@ Pelicans?!?!?

[minsue]

I can't decide whether to laugh or cry....

Crash landing: Pelicans mistake desert pavement for water

Mary Jo Pitzl
The Arizona Republic
Jul. 7, 2004 05:57 PM

It's a bird! It's a crane! No, it's a pelican plummeting to the ground.

More than 20 endangered brown pelicans have crashed onto sidewalks and roads in Arizona, mistaking the heat-induced shimmer of the paved surface for lakes and creeks, wildlife officials say.

"They try to land on the water, but it's asphalt and it's 'Bam! That doesn't feel so good,' " said Sandy Cate, director of the Arizona Game and Fish Department's wildlife center at Adobe Mountain in north Phoenix.

The pelicans have been found from Yuma to Phoenix. Most have been located in southern Arizona, where they've landed while flying out of the Sea of Cortez. Cate said a "bumper crop" of bird births this year has made the pelicans fly far afield looking for food.

So far, the pelicans have been treated mostly for dehydration and emaciation, Cate said. One bird had to be euthanized because its wing was so badly mangled.

The public can call Game and Fish at (602) 789-3925 to report pelicans who appear stranded, away from food and water sources.

They should not try to pick up the birds, Cate said: "The tip end (of their beaks*) can rip you open like a can opener."

* Just in case you couldn't figure that part out...

Why o why has no one asked, "WTF are pelicans doing in AZ?!?" They've been here for a while, along with egrets for fuck's sake, and I can't for the life of me figure out how or why. I almost wrecked the car about a year ago when one flew by while I was on the freeway during rush hour. I thought I was insane until there was a picture of one in the paper a few months later!

 

[Guest]

Min, that was my question too until I read, "The pelicans have been found from Yuma to Phoenix. Most have been located in southern Arizona, where they've landed while flying out of the Sea of Cortez. Cate said a "bumper crop" of bird births this year has made the pelicans fly far afield looking for food."

Poor things. Stupid too. (J/K )

Perdita

 

[ruminator]

I'm sorry. I put them there.

I don't mean to make light of a sad situation, but honestly, this does make it easier to understand why they are an endangered species.

 

[minsue]

Min, that was my question too until I read, "The pelicans have been found from Yuma to Phoenix. Most have been located in southern Arizona, where they've landed while flying out of the Sea of Cortez. Cate said a "bumper crop" of bird births this year has made the pelicans fly far afield looking for food."

Poor things. Stupid too. (J/K )

Perdita

I wanted to go with that explanation, but they've been here longer than that. At least some of them have. I'm smack dab in the middle of the valley (that big-assed metro area including Phx, but the 'burbs are getting bigger than the city) and there are pelicans, egrets, and even a couple of beavers in the dry river bottom where one of the cities pumps their treated wastewater. (They wanted to stop pumping water there, but the beavers won the PR war )

I can kind of understand the explanation for the pelicans & egrets, but how in the hell did the beavers get here? (Yes, I wonder too much about too many things)

PS to Rumi - Good point

 

[ruminator]

I wanted to go with that explanation, but they've been here longer than that. At least some of them have. I'm smack dab in the middle of the valley (that big-assed metro area including Phx, but the 'burbs are getting bigger than the city) and there are pelicans, egrets, and even a couple of beavers in the dry river bottom where one of the cities pumps their treated wastewater. (They wanted to stop pumping water there, but the beavers won the PR war )

I can kind of understand the explanation for the pelicans & egrets, but how in the hell did the beavers get here? (Yes, I wonder too much about too many things)

PS to Rumi - Good point

I'm going to do some research on this but my first question would be if anything has been tried in the way of ultrasonic deterrants for the birds? Sort of turning urban or high risk areas into no-fly zones. They could even likely be set up on a motion activated system.

I'm going to look closely at the beaver attraction.

 

[minsue]

I'm going to look closely at the beaver attraction.

I knew I could count on you!

 

[ruminator]

I knew I could count on you!

My pleasure. Somehow I sensed you could feel my sincere dedication to the satisfaction and protection of the beaver.

We're all about the wild life, aren't we?

 

[lucky-E-leven]

DOHI



~lucky

p.s. Maybe Lit's chief gosling should school those pelicans a bit.

 

[minsue]

My pleasure. Somehow I sensed you could feel my sincere dedication to the satisfaction and protection of the beaver.

We're all about the wild life, aren't we?

That we are, Rumi

 

[destinie21]

I can't decide whether to laugh or cry....


* Just in case you couldn't figure that part out...

I thought I was insane until there was a picture of one in the paper a few months later!

Who says you're not insane? Sorry to hear about the birds really I am is there anything that can be done?

 

[minsue]

Re: Re: What's Wrong With the *&%$@ Pelicans?!?!?

Who says you're not insane? Sorry to hear about the birds really I am is there anything that can be done?

I'm all for air-conditioning the entire state so that there are no longer heat-induced mirages. For the pelicans, of course.

Edited to add: Of course I'm insane! How could I have forgotten that? Thanks, Des!

 

[shereads]

EARTH TO ARIZONA: Duh. Birds get around. They know you have the London Bridge; it's only reasonable for them to assume you're a temperate island in the Atlantic Ocean.

You're going to need a large carp pond and something to feed the fish. On behalf of Florida, I'm donating all the mosquitos you can catch and carry. We can start with the swarm that hatched and floated up from the lawn when I turned on the sprinkler this morning.

 

[minsue]

That's what I love about you, Sher. Your giving nature.

 

[shereads]

That's what I love about you, Sher. Your giving nature.

When you come to Miami, I'll take you to the Pelican Rescue Station. In nesting season, they put a notice in the local papers asking for twigs from your pruned shrubbery. The male pelicans compete to see who can build the largest stack of twigs, and the ladies choose mates based on whose nests rock their boats.

It's a hoot. You walk over to the holding pen where the birds hang out after their injuries have healed (most of them are brought in with fish hooks in their beaks) and the males all race-waddle over to the fence to check out the quality of your twigs. If you haven't stripped off the leaves, you're greeted with disdain. Put an accceptable twig through the wire, and one of them grabs it and race-waddles over to add it to his stack. As soon as he comes back to the fence for more, one of his buddies steals the twig off his nest and adds it to his own. The female pelicans look interested for a while, and then they go back to their reading.

If you've ever wished you could make someone really happy with your yard waste, this is your chance.

 

[minsue]

When you come to Miami, I'll take you to the Pelican Rescue Station. In nesting season, they put a notice in the local papers asking for twigs from your pruned shrubbery. The male pelicans compete to see who can build the largest stack of twigs, and the ladies choose mates based on whose nests rock their boats.

It's a hoot. You walk over to the holding pen where the birds hang out after their injuries have healed (most of them are brought in with fish hooks in their beaks) and the males all race-waddle over to the fence to check out the quality of your twigs. If you haven't stripped off the leaves, you're greeted with disdain. Put an accceptable twig through the wire, and one of them grabs it and race-waddles over to add it to his stack. As soon as he comes back to the fence for more, one of his buddies steals the twig off his nest and adds it to his own. The female pelicans look interested for a while, and then they go back to their reading.

If you've ever wished you could make someone really happy with your yard waste, this is your chance.

Awwwwww....I never thought I'd be reduced to cooing-mushy-baby-talk over pelicans


That's not true. I'm reduced to cooing-mushy-baby-talk over just about any animal. Except roaches. And locusts. That's about it.

 

[shereads]

Awwwwww....I never thought I'd be reduced to cooing-mushy-baby-talk over pelicans


That's not true. I'm reduced to cooing-mushy-baby-talk over just about any animal. Except roaches. And locusts. That's about it.

The pelicans don't want your sympathy, dammit. They want sticks.

 

[Lucifer_Carroll]

Re: Re: Re: What's Wrong With the *&%$@ Pelicans?!?!?

I'm all for air-conditioning the entire state so that there are no longer heat-induced mirages. For the pelicans, of course.

Edited to add: Of course I'm insane! How could I have forgotten that? Thanks, Des!

Yeah, for the birds sure. Surely not because most of the fauna of Arizona migrate to the surface of the sun in summer to get away from the heat. No, not that at all.

 

[oggbashan]

A few years ago a male swan landed on the M25 (London's orbital motorway) and tried to chase all the traffic off its territory.

It was winning, defying cars, heavy trucks and the Police. It had brought the motorway to a stop for over an hour until a fire truck turned up with siren, blue lights and flashing headlights.

The swan flew off to terrorise a local pond.

Og

 

[Liar]

I'm more concerned abouy you, Min. Make sure you wear your sturdy helmet whenever you go outside. Who knows what will plummet from the sky.

 

[CharleyH]

You have just reminded me of a Thanksgiving episode of WKRP, I thought tirkey's could fly?"

I'm laughing. Sorry.

Um, what are Pelican's doing in the Arizona desert? I thought they were ocean creatures.

 

[ABSTRUSE]

I hear they are high in protein.

 

[cheerful_deviant]

I hear they are high in protein.

Pelican, the other white meat.

 

[ruminator]

They get caught in accidental updrafts due to cyclical seasonal changes. Carries them over the state lines.

That reminds me of the old punch line

...and he was caught transporting mynas, across sedate lions, for immortal porpoises. :riotous laughter:

I will never understand the behavior of my favorite, the beavers.

 

[Guest]

<crying>Poor fuckin' birds.

From "Three Kings"

 

[Guest]

They get caught in accidental updrafts due to cyclical seasonal changes. Carries them over the state lines.

That reminds me of the old punch line

...and he was caught transporting mynas, across sedate lions, for immortal porpoises. :riotous laughter:

I will never understand the behavior of my favorite, the beavers.

Then there was the vulture with three dead rabbits that tried to board a plane. He was refused because only two carrions were allowed.