They're Both My Best Angle

wait...are you ignoring me...on purpose?!

Okay, pelicans are one of my all-time-favorite birds. They have such distinct personality - I suppose you just don’t carry all those unusual features without coming into some attitude!

This particular moment unfolded during a family visit to Texas, where I grew up. We had stopped for lunch at Snoopy’s Pier on South Padre Island, with its sprawling network of boardwalks and picnic tables, surrounded by busy docks and boat traffic in the channel. Locals and tourists alike, balancing baskets of fried shrimp, settled under brightly colored patio umbrellas to escape the blazing Texas sun. They ate and drank and laughed and chatted. And ignored the pelicans. And the pelicans ignored them.

Pelicans were everywhere! They glided through the busy waters of the bay, occasionally lifting into lumbering flight. They perched on protruding posts in deep water, aloof, indifferent to any comings or goings of their human co-habitants.

And then I spotted this guy standing right next to the pier. Modeling. I was the only person who was excited about this, but I was excited enough for all of us! I grabbed my camera and walked slowly to the end of the boardwalk, not wanting to startle him. He turned his back to me.

And then…very slowly…he looked over one shoulder!

brown pelican, South Padre Island, Texas

I took one million pictures in an instant while he fixed one dark eye firmly on my position. Was I bothering him? Were my camera clicks too loud? Did I look like I was pointing something threatening at him? He slowly turned his back on me again, setting his sights on waters and horizons, entirely disinterested in my all-too-human concerns.

And then…very slowly…looked over the other shoulder!

brown pelican, South Padre Island, Texas

I have never been so pointedly, entirely ignored - or so grateful for the privilege! Turns out, being ignored can be a moment of connection, too :)

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