Playful Pelicans

At the beach one spring morning, on Florida's Space Coast, I walked across the sand, watching the birds. Sandpipers scampered back and forth at the water's edge, groups moving in unison one way then another. Gulls swooped and screamed, or stood in kaffeeklatsch clusters, gossiping about the terns that stood apart further down the beach. A young ibis flew swiftly across at the water's edge, perhaps late for an appointment at the nearby Space Center. And then a plump brown pelican appeared, flying very low, skimming the waves just offshore.