The Pelican Path

I enter the bill, curl through the head, curve down the neck, then turn and ascend the leading edge of a wing. Then downward, I weave through each feather, glide upward along the other wing, then meander down flight feathers and through the tail. Then circling back and forth, I spiral into the belly, or dan tien, of this large winged being. Here, I pause to center myself and to align with pelican energy. On my outward journey, the blustery wind ruffles my feathers and lifts my wings and I rise, soaring like a pelican, into the sky.

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!

-Dixon Lanier Merritt

Pelicans look like a modern-day version of a pterodactyl, with their long angular bills and expansive wings. Groups of them often cruise through the sky in formation like squadrons of planes. They also circle on currents of warm air, spiraling ever higher in the atmosphere. Though graceful and majestic birds in flight, the feeding behavior of some species transforms them into downward-accelerating projectiles. Brown pelicans along the coast hurtle themselves into ocean waves, stunning schools of fish and scooping them up in their bills.

However, American white pelicans, who inhabit freshwater wetlands, lakes, and rivers, are less dramatic. Floating with others, they often work as a group to corral fish, dipping and filling their open bills as they steadily move through the water. I have watched them struggle as they literally choke down massive carp that appear to be more than their belican hold. While the table manners of pelicans may not be pretty, they manage to get the job done and then some.

I admire the pelican’s stealth and command of the air and delight in their residence along the Columbia River where I live. While we were building this labyrinth, one flew overhead. I would like to believe they saw their likeness below and approved.

For all that is,