The sharp rise of the coast north and south of San Diego and the daily wind off the ocean provides a constant uplift for soaring Brown Pelicans. At the Tide Pool area of Cabrillo National Monument on Point Loma, you can get quite close to them, as they soar along the top of the first rise in the cliff where the paths are. They can, and do, pass 25-30 feet from you, often at eyelevel (slightly above or even slightly below). They are still moving quite fast, so it is hard to study the detail with the naked eye, but they are moving slow enough so that, with just a bit of practice, you can catch them even with a smartphone camera. This shot is with my new Olympus OM-D E-M10 and the 75-300mm zoom. I programmed in the “flight shot” settings someone on the Micro-four-thirds forum suggested, and spent 20 minutes shooting Pelicans in the air. I got a number of keepers 🙂

600mm equivalent. ISO 200 @ 1/800th @ f11. Processed in Snapseed on the Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1 2014.

And for the Sunday Thought: I suspect that every human, if they take the time to look, feels the fascination of birds in flight. On the wing, every bird is graceful, even something as ungainly on land as the Brown Pelican. And the Pelican makes it look so effortless. Fixed wings extended, it soars, riding the up drafts of breaking waves or sea-cliffs with equal ease…somehow sensing the current ahead of it and always positioning itself where the rising air beneath it’s wings will carry it forward most efficiently…with the least effort.

And I think that kind of soaring flight is the most fascinating to us as humans. We know in the spirit that there is a current in time and space that we should be riding as effortlessly as the Pelican…a current of intention…a current of creation…a current, even, of love. We dream of being able, like the Pelican, to sense the current ahead of us, to position ourselves so that we soar on the good will of the universe, on the intention of God, in the strong, constant up draft of love. We feel, in the spirit, that we can do that…that we were made to do that…as surely as the Pelican was made to skim the waves and cliff tops.

If only.

If only we could let ourselves and all that anchors us in this earthbound life go. If only we could once and for all learn to trust the current and our most true selves’ sense of where the up draft of love is…we could soar.

That’s why we find the Pelican in flight so inspiring.

Or that is what I think. Happy Sunday.