Hello, hello, hello
What a week it was. The weather played tricks. Snow in April! The wind was howling, snow flakes brutally swirling and covering the grass and green leaves on the trees. On the next day the snow melt, of course, but it will be bad season for the fruit trees. However, I looked at the forecast and the weekend should be fine - no rain, no snow. The plan was to go down the beach and more particularly near the passengers port to find the pelican Stoicho.
Let me tell you this, pelicans don't stay on the beach in my town. They are migratory birds and they pass by. This pelican though had a long story.
Walking casually.
Last year a wounded pelican was brought in the local zoo, where the vets rescued him. There are other pelicans in the zoo, but this one had enough and decided to move along. He escaped and stopped on the beach. The zoo is walking distance from the beach, so the vets could easily observe and check on the bird. The pelican felt quite all right there surrounded by people. He became a star in the social media and the news, because he was not afraid to walk along the people on the promenade and pose for photos and video clips. I don't know who named him, but now everyone knows his name - Stoicho.
After some time the pelican was gone, probably he joined other pelicans who were flying over.
And this year, when the birds start to come from south, our friend the pelican Stoicho appeared again on our shore. This time he chose different place and instantly was spotted. When I saw his photos, I knew I have to find him.
The morning was very promising, the sun was up and I wrapped well, because it was nippy. Waiting at the traffic light to cross the street, I heard the men next to me talking about the pelican. Not surprisingly, his photos and the video clips became viral. He was caught walking along the windows of the restaurants, waiting patiently next to the fisherman or entering the office of a tourist agency. I am not kidding.
Stoicho is White pelican, but white pelicans have rather pinkish plumage and we call them Pink pelicans.
When I arrived and took my camera out, two women approached me and asked me if I have seen the pelican. I said not yet and I was looking for him. I took a stroll, but there was no sign of the big bird. I reached the small yacht port and turned around. Almost thinking I might miss the bird and I saw few people with phones taking pictures in the most unusual place.
When I reached them, I saw a fisherman feeding the pelican.
Needless to say I felt lucky to be there at that time and to snap such images.
The pelican is so attractive that every TV station send their reporters. And again my luck, while I was shooting, two TV crews appeared. I was interviewed by one of them and I saw myself in the news. Neli was on the telly. 😀
This is the link of the news. Although the video is in Bulgarian language, you can translate the text in the site.
Anyway, my fame lasts a second. I said one sentence only, but I was with our celebrity - the pelican.
And that is all for now. I snapped many photos of this extraordinary bird, who is now symbol of our town Varna. Stoicho, the pelican took our hearts.
Thank you for viewing my post.
