Thread: Sam (aka Samantha) the Pelican

Maybe there is just one band and the Pelicans slip it to each other like the homeless guys in Pensacola taking shifts at the traffic lights.

[size=14pt]News Flash!!![/size]
[size=12pt]Sam is really Samantha. David A. said that some scientist type was on the Octi the other day and said Sam is definitely a girl.
I don’t know, they all look alike to me[/size] :

I am NOT going to go there... :-[

;D

[quote author=Bubba link=topic=99.msg3170#msg3170 date=1323972276]
[size=10pt]Maybe there is just one band and the Pelicans slip it to each other like the homeless guys in Pensacola taking shifts at the traffic lights.[/size][/quote]

[size=12pt]Sounds like we may have been “Sam Scammed” [/size]

Any pelican smart enough to avoid going after snobbled baits is above average in my book.

Idenity theft!!!

[quote author=Pier#r link=topic=99.msg3162#msg3162 date=1323965711]
Hmmm, me thinks there may be an imposter in our midst! ???
This pic from Fall 2011 shows "Sam" in yearling (1st year) plumage ('speckled' belly)


While this pic from Fall 2010 shows "Sam" in juvenile (2nd year) plumage ('white' belly)


Not to throw water on Sam's fire (or pierfolklore), but these pictures would seem to indicate that "Sam" is actually more than a single individual (one or two years old).
Available descriptions (http://www.ms-starship.com/sciencenew/brown_pelican.htm) tell us:

Juveniles are generally brown above and white below and it takes them about three years to attain their adult plumage.

Perhaps we see so many subadult pelicans at the GSPPier because the pelican rookery on Gaiilard Island (in Mobile Bay) is fairly close.
Yearlings and juveniles are the ones that are so bold as to impose on humans (fishermen) and have not yet perfected their own fishing skills.
I wonder if feeding these birds helps them survive, or are we 'contributing to the delinquency of pelicans' which would naturally die otherwise?
No doubt they can be a PITA sometimes (begging and snatching fish, not to mention the poop) and I can't help but think of the problems fishermen now have in Florida with bottle nose dolphins after years of feeding them. ???
[/quote]

Pictured are DEFINITELY two different birds from what I can gather. Nice catch, Pier#r.

At least Sam is a good universal name.

Although, I am quite sure both of those are females since it is common practice to put the band on the left foot of female pelicans, and the right foot for males.

[size=12pt]
6/25/12
Fishing was pretty much shutdown by T S Debby and Sam showed up on the pier panhandling for food.




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