The real snow birds of Southwest Florida: white pelicans

When I see pelicans, sometimes " I get the urge to just hug them."

The woman who uttered this was a visitor from Philadelphia — an urbanite who neither claimed to be a kayaker or a bird watcher. But here she was, paddling near an exposed mud flat in San Carlos Bay, and the pelicans were mesmerizing her.

But then, it's easy to become enchanted by the feathered residents of Southwest Florida's coastal waterways this time of year.

Even if you reject the notion that you're a bird watcher, winter is the time of year you'll find yourself taking note of waterfowl. Anglers, boaters, kayakers, beach-walkers, shell seekers, sunbathers, fitness nuts —everybody who spends time near salt water can be a bird watcher from now until the calendar hints at spring's arrival.

The more extreme low tides expose mud flats that attract the birds. Rain-free days of nothing but blue sky make them stand out on the horizon like cutouts. Plus, horrid weather up north brings us notable birds to notice.

The City of Brotherly Love visitor had happened upon brown pelicans sitting like oversized Christmas ornaments on mangroves (who needs a partridge in a pear tree?) just across from a muddy flat upon which three white pelicans stood. The snow-colored birds appeared to be looking at a red pickup truck at a marina. But they were also carefully eyeballing her and us, too, as we drifted by in kayaks.

Some Southwest Florida snowbirds really are birds — in this case, white pelicans Brown pelicans are notorious skydivers and piling-perchers year-round. The American white pelicans only come here when the U.S. heartland, plains and range around the Rockies are coated with powder.

What's cool this time of year is that you can stumble upon a mudflat that features a brown pelican standing next to a white pelican. The size difference is comical and Far Side-like.

A white pelican's weight is nearly double that of a brown. The white's wingspan is 9 feet compared with the brown's 6½-foot span.

When the birds are hunting, it's easy for a non-bird watcher to note another difference. Brown pelicans employ Kamikaze pilot antics when they dive and feed solo. White pelicans don't dive and don't mind crowds. They join in a group to seine their fish.

Seeing them bunched up and working together creates surreal white blobs on the watery horizon.

Another horizon-grabbing scene these days is that of black skimmers.

Talk about comical.

Their wings appear disproportionately long compared to their bodies and tail feathers. They have a perpetual under bite — a lower beak longer than the upper one. They make hairpin turns and smooth banks as a flock, and the optical illusion produced by their white undersides and black upper sides is captivating.

The thing that makes a beach walker stop strolling and an angler stop casting, though, is when they feed. What they do is unmistakable. The birds forage for small fish by flying over shallow water with their lower mandibles slicing the surface.

Skimmers skim for food.

Say what you will about bird-watchers, but they certainly select names that suit a species.

But even if you don't know the name of the species you may feel like hugging or feel compelled to stop and watch, who cares? You're outdoors in January on the coast in the sunshine with feathered friends.

Could life get much better?

— Betsy Clayton is a freelancer based on Pine Island and also is Lee County Parks & Recreation's waterways coordinator. Contact her at b oatingbybetsy@ yahoo.com.

COASTAL BIRD WATCHING TIPS

>>Check the tides. Use a Web site such as www.wunderground.com or www.saltwatertides. com

>>Remember a low tide in the morning is perfect because birds would be out feeding anyway, and the low water exposes more feeding grounds.

>>Note the moon phase. A full winter moon means an even more dramatic low tide.

>>Launch a kayak. Watching wildlife on shore from a kayak in shallow water is like being in a movie theater's front row.

>>Bring a camera. It doesn't matter if it's just a point-and-shoot variety. You'll want to e-mail friends in snowy locals images of the brilliant birds you see.