The reluctant natural enemy

This started out as man versus pelican tale and wound up as an object lesson in the value of humility. See the first part of the story on the photo of the week page at Corndancer dot com, a very cool thing to do.

Bottom line was, I wanted to shoot pelicans (the Nikon way). Despite my good intentions, the subject pelicans declared me a natural enemy, rejected my intrusion and swam out of range after just a few shots.

After just a few frames, the wily birds said "no more" and turned tail, following their leader to a perceived safer distance.

Further west, in what many believe to be the lake slums, is the cormorant tree. It is a deceased cypress tree, adopted by cormorants. I’ve seen them in this same configuration at just about any given time of the year. From what I can tell, cormorants enjoy little appreciation from anyone or thing except other cormorants. Their only saving grace so far as I’m concerned is as an interesting picture.

The slums of the lake, according those not enamored with cormorants. This deceased cypress tenement is populated year-round by cormorants. One can note their social habits. They will seek out pelicans for company. The reverse of that is not true to the best of my observations.

Far be it from me to challenge The Almighty, however I’ve yet to come up with a good reason for poison ivy, chiggers, gnats, jellyfish, cockroaches, obnoxious people and perhaps, cormorants. The message from Above is, in this case, ” … boy if I’d needed your advice, I would have asked. Learn to live with it. Amen.” OK Big Guy, you’re the boss.

Thanks for dropping by,

Joe Dempsey

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