Julie R Fricke

jqmold has stated that pelicans always hang out in prime numbers. Having instructed us thusly, we, of course, are compelled to double check his observation. So, every time we see pelicans, we all begin counting.

Generally, this is easy because they always seem to stand around in clusters of 5 or 3. They tuck their long beaks against their necks, looking at gawking people with baleful eyes. If they get nervous they stretch out their pterodactyl wings and slowly flap away.

An even more classic sight is a somber Vee of seven or eleven pelicans cruising at about 40 feet of altitude moving down the coast. They very seriously consider the dining opportunities in the swells below them. Yesterday I watched a little feeding frenzy, the pelicans dropping like bombs into the water, emerging a very short time later, smacking their "lips."  As I swam yesterday, I myself saw fish lurking under water, about 3 feet down. Those long pointy beaks must pierce straight through the water, scooping up the oblivious fish, who are really too busy thinking about not getting trampled by boogie boarders to worry about a death strike from above.

Once I saw a small group of four pelicans on the shore north of Malibu. As I toldjqmold, "It's OK, they made one of them stand a little away from the rest, breaking themselves into two groups of three and one!"

I mentioned this later to Tobin, who wasted no time in reminding me that 1 is not a prime number. Maybe pelicans are as unclear on this concept as I apparently am.

Yesterday I saw the biggest flocks of pelicans I can remember. One group had 47. One had 19.

Then I saw a group of twenty. You can explain this in one of two ways. Either they had picked up a straggler and had yet to put into action the system of shunning one into its proper prime grouping. Or Roger's theory is right only 95% of the time. Still, not too bad a record for predicting animal behavior. 95% is pretty respectable!