An Old Pelican

We like to travel a route down Front Beach, East Beach and around the Inner Harbor in Ocean Springs. We drive it so often, there are certain "folks" we look for on the drive. There are the stray cats at the harbor, the brown and yellow labs just past the harbor, the green herons that hang out on the wire at the Inner Harbor, and now the double-crested cormorants are back, so we look for them, too. The cormorants are really fun to watch, perched on a post with wings extended to dry them. The brown pelicans are dotted around along with the laughing gulls on posts all along the beaches and the harbor. The old folks, the white headed pelicans, are numerous with a brown headed youngster here and there.

One fellow we came upon concerned us. An obviously older pelican was sitting on the dock at Inner Harbor. We stopped to check him out. He eyed us warily, but tolerated us since we didn't get out of the car. He looked tired and worn, his feathers faded. He seemed a little more stooped and thinner than the others. As we drove away, we could only wonder if this may be his last winter at the harbor. The rest of the trip wasn't as pleasant as the first, as we pondered the old fellow's fate.