Pelicans

Now, you may not share my feelings about pelicans and I have to admit, I had a long talk with myself before posting about them for fear of scaring some of you off but, well, I really like pelicans. Before moving to San Diego I can't say for sure that I ever saw one, much less twenty of them in a row gliding up there in the sky so effortlessly, one not more than a few feet behind the next, all going someplace. I use to joke with people and say, that "they are headed to a party in Pacific Beach" and as much a I'm quite sure that isn't true, I challenge you to disprove it.

The best pelican watching area, in my opinion, is between La Jolla Cove and Bird Rock. A huge flock of pelicans make their homes in La Jolla on the cliffs above the cove just East of Point La Jolla. I have seen quite literally hundreds of them there from time-to-time. Cormorants seem to get along nicely with pelicans so you will see quite a few cormorants there as well. But if you want to see them in flight, go south, anywhere from Nicholson Point to Windansea beach.

The beach is easily accessed from just about anywhere. Find a place to park on Scripps Lane or Ravina Street and head west. When get to the Pacific Ocean, go left. It is only about a mile from Nicholson Point to Windansea. There seem to always be a few pelicans skimming across the edge of a wave. The pics above are all of pelicans gliding just above the palm trees, but I have seen as many riding the airflow off the crest of a wave. If you decide to walk the surface streets back, you won't be disappointed. The neighborhood is beautiful and you will get glimpses of the ocean every now and then. There are also many paths that will take you back to beach if you should decide to end your career as a street walker. (I know, that was bad. I couldn't help myself.)

Brown pelicans like this one are the smallest of the eight species of pelicans weighing in at 6 to 12 pounds. If you enjoy watching these wonderful birds as much as I do, you will want to make sure to spend a day or two on the beach in La Jolla when you RetireInSanDiego.

In parting, I do believe a limerick by Dixon Lanier Merritt is in order.

A wonderful bird is the pelican,
His bill will hold more than his belican,
He can take in his beak
Enough food for a week
But I'm damned if I see how the helican!

Happy Saturday from San Diego

Another San Diego Sunset

Maybe you are one of "those" people. You know the ones I'm talking about: at ten years old they knew they were born to be a quantum physicist and would stumble across the cure for cancer while discovering the tesseract.  Well, I'm not one of those good folks but I hope both are discovered. When I suggest that you RetireInSanDiego I'm talking about retiring on more of a Clairemont budget than a La Jolla budget. 

I hope you read the dialogue and enjoyed the pics I took at La Jolla Cove. It is such a beautiful place. I lived in Wind-n-Sea, just South of the Cove, for many years and thoroughly enjoyed this park-like area. My reality, however, is and was not La Jolla. I eventually bought a great condo in Clairemont. Fabulous location and I do mean FABULOUS. Ten minutes to the airport; four miles to the ocean through Pacific Beach; a grocery and drug store one mile South, a shopping center two miles North and a Target, Home Depot, Von's and Kohl's a mile and a half East. AND, best of all, Clairemont is a neighborhood I can afford. To top it all off I get to enjoy beautiful sunsets every night. If you get tired of me posting them, please send me a comment like, "Okay, enough with the sunsets already." I will understand. But, you have to see this one. Enjoy! and Happy Wednesday.