Before the storm…

Rain was in the forecast, but it wasn’t raining quite yet so I headed out for the sunrise.  I saw lightning on the way over and thought I should probably turn around.  But the sky was prettier than I expected, and the sunrise was lovely and pastel. I was determined to get my photo for the challenge if nothing else, but there was an added element of fun.  It was Saturday morning and young fishermen were casting their lines over the side of the bridge and pulling in little fish left and right.  I was quite surprised to realize that there were two brown pelicans there, I’d never seen them in Aripeka before.  The fishermen were throwing their fish to them and they were trying to catch them.  It was fun to watch and I thought I’d get a lot of pictures.  But then it happened.  One of the pelicans leaped up and snagged the fish as the fisherman reeled it in.  So it caught the fish plus the hook and the length of line that snapped off with it, all in just a split second.  After that the pelican seemed to be gulping water and trying to swallow the fish but was having trouble doing it.  And there we were, helpless to help.  Suddenly this wasn’t fun anymore, and I wondered how it was that I didn’t anticipate what might happen.  I did call and alert the rescue authorities, but I was told that when a bird is in the water the chances of catching it even to help it was slim to none.  I stopped taking pictures at that point and left.  I heard thunder on the way home.