There were 17 pelicans congregated at the end of one of the boat ramps this morning so I pedalled down the track, parked my trike and rushed down to the end of the ramp to start snapping away.
There were three kids at the end of the ramp. Two boys and a girl, ranging in ages from about 6 - 10 yrs. The boys were the oldest.
They were yelling at the tops of their lungs and waving their bright red fishing nets around as they ran back and forth across the ramp trying to scare the pelicans away.
Then I noticed the carcass of a very large Cod floating in the water.
It was way too big for the pelicans to ever be able to pick it up and/or swallow/eat it, but they were having a darned good shot at it, while the boys were trying desperately to pull the carcass in with their plastic red fishing nets that were too small and not strong enough to pick up such a large carcass.
Finally, the boys won, and dragged the carcass through the water to the ramp, and they pulled it onto the concrete edge.
The pelicans all paddled close to the fish and the boys began yelling at them again, THEN picked up the large stones on the edge of the ramp and began throwing them at the pelicans!
I yelled "Hey! Don't do that!"
They looked at me as if I was speaking a language that they had never heard before! They continued to throw rocks.
I yelled "Hey! Don't throw rocks at the birds!"
They gave me a cursory glance and continued to throw the rocks.
I yelled louder "Hey!!"
The boys stopped and looked at me and decided not to throw any more stones, but the girl just laughed and picked up the biggest rock that she could handle and threw it at the birds.
That's when I saw her mother come running down the ramp and yelled at her to stop throwing stones at the pelicans.
She immediately stopped throwing stones.
Then the woman looked at me and said ... "Your photos on the wall in the Bakery are awesome! I see now where you find your subjects and I can tell, by your photos, that you really love what you do."
That is NOT what I was expecting her to say! However, it was nice, and I thanked her.
She wandered back up to her seat and continued to read. The kids stopped throwing rocks and I continued on along the beach to take more photos of more pelicans.
As I was returning, about 15 minutes later, I heard the little girl screaming and the mother was carrying her up the boat ramp. By the time I reached the boat ramp, where my trike was parked, the little girl was limping back down the ramp towards the water.
I asked "What have you done to yourself?" She lifted her foot up to show me a cut under her foot. It wasn't a bad one but it was still bleeding a little.
I SO wanted to say to her "See! That's what happens when you throw stones at birds!"
What I ACTUALLY said was "Oh dear! You need to be careful of those sharp stones and shells!"
Bloody kids! ... Nice mother though :D LOL
Nite all.
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