Beautiful pelicans shouldn't be victims of humans' actions

• Published September 23, 2008

WESTPORT - Ravens busily - and silently - went about their grisly work just above the high tide mark.

More than a dozen rapidly dipping heads meant that plenty of food was on the beach, and the black birds were working fast to beat the seagulls for the best part of the feast.

From 100 yards away, I could see a tiny bit of a webbed foot poking above the sand, and I figured that a baby seal had died and washed ashore.

As I got closer, I saw pinkish ribs poking into the air - and the long beak of a pelican. From 20 feet away, I saw why the bird had died.

Clear plastic film poked out of the dead bird's throat. The pelican had swallowed some plastic - maybe one of those gallon-sized plastic bags that are so good for storing fried chicken in a boat cooler.

Maybe the bag was tossed overboard or blown overboard.

What really mattered was that the pelican choked on the plastic, died and was now lunch for ravens.

Pelicans are a mixture of grace and silliness. When they're paddling around on the water, they wallow from place to place like someone who has lost their car keys.

They look startled and dumb, and they'll grab for just about anything floating on the water. I've seen pelicans grab for fishing lures, the bony remains of filleted fish, paper plates - and plastic sandwich bags.

But put a pelican in the air, and you have grace.

In the air, they fly in precise formation, and watching them tip over - one by one - and dive on baitfish like a World War II dive bomber is like watching a ballet. They also love to glide just above the incoming swells. A pelican in the air is beautiful.

Pelicans hang out near Westport's South Jetty all summer long, and I love watching them while fishing, surfing or just walking the beach.

Pods of baitfish dimple around on the surface near the jetty on windless summer mornings, and I've had diving pelicans splash me while I was sitting on my surfboard waiting for a wave.

A pelican hitting the water sounds like a kid doing a bellyflop in a pool. Then the bird comes up with that sack under their bill fat with food and water, and you've seen something really cool.

The Pacific Ocean is a tough neighborhood, and pelicans die all the time out there. But it doesn't seem fair for a silly, beautiful bird to die because it thought a plastic bag might be tasty.

Every human on the planet has an impact on wild creatures - even if you don't eat meat, ride public transportation and recycle every day.

So, it's up to each one of us to do a little bit more. Be careful with your plastic bags and cut up your plastic six-pack rings so birds at the landfill - those scavanging ravens or seagulls - don't get their beaks stuck and starve to death. Sea turtles think clear plastic is a jellyfish, so they eat it and die.

Without ravens, there would be a lot of dead animals rotting away and spreading disease.

If you fish, don't leave your old line snarled on the riverbank or beach. Wad it up, put it in your pocket and then recycle it at sporting goods stores.

Many people doing lots of small things adds up fast. Keeping plastic out of the ocean - the stuff lasts forever and can drift thousands of miles - means a lot.

Maybe it means another year of life for a dumb, beautiful pelican. Maybe it means a sea turtle lays another clutch of eggs on a Maui beach. Maybe it just means our world is just a little bit better.

I think we can all agree on that.

Chester Allen can be reached at 360-754-4226 or callen@theolympian.com.