March 14, 2014

Venice Beach Jetty

If you like watching schools of dolphin and more pelicans than you can count; the Venice Beach Jetty is the place for you. 

It didn't take long for us to see our first dolphin. 

As we made our way down the jetty we had to be careful

 to avoid being hit by fishing poles being cast. 

At first we thought there was only one dolphin in the area--then we spotted this one surface at the same time as the first one we saw. 

This guy had a keen eye on the fishing lines-ready to pounce if the opportunity arose. 

For a creature their size pelicans are very graceful.

 

Venice Beach in the distance 

I'm not sure what kind of fish these are but they startled me

 as I was passing by when they splashed me. 

I was sorry I hadn't brought a hat with me because the heat from the sun was pretty intense. 

Yet another dolphin.

 

There was no shortage of amazing things to photograph.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This guy spotted a fisherman reeling in a fish. 

I thought he was going to grab the fish but 

The fisherman threw it in the water and two pelicans fought over it. 

This is the winner.  The tail is still sticking out of his mouth. 

 

It was so cool to be able to see the fish's eye while it was in the pelicans throat. 

We felt badly for this guy because he had a fishing lure embedded in its leg.

 

Monte approached it to assess the situation.

I think the pelican knew Monte was trying to help it because it didn't fly away.

There was a fisherman standing nearby.  Monte asked him if he would take out the lure if Monte was able to subdue the pelican. 

Monte grabbed hold of the beak and climbed up the rocks with the pelican. 

 

The pelican didn't offer much resistance as the fisherman dug the lure out as Monte continued holding on to the beak. 

When Monte let go, the pelican didn't go far.

After a round of applause and some handshakes from eyewitnesses, we departed. 

Pelicans getting hooked on lure must be a commonplace event as evidenced by this poster.

I have to admit that when Monte first told me his plan to grab hold of the pelican I tried to talk him out of it because I didn't know what the bird would do.  BUT after it was all over, I was glad that Monte hadn't listened to me because I think he may have saved that pelicans life.