I spent some time this week watching pelicans fish off the beach in Santa Monica, which is quite different from my usual pastimes, like switching cars on the F train to avoid the one with the smelly bum or dysfunctional A/C. On Monday there was just the lone pelican and he was putting on quite a show, scanning up and down a small area of ocean right in front of me. Everry few minutes he'd pull up over his chosen spot, and dive down to catch a fish. Yesterday there were several pelicans to be seen. But the flock was scanning a much larger area, so they weren't right in front of me all the time. They didn't seem to be finding much, either - I only saw two dives.

Watching pelicans is a great way to spend a few hours, and a perfect prelude to seeing that penguin movie.

-j