Good Morning Mr. Kroegel!

 Monday morning I went seeking solitude, once again, on the shores of the Indian River Lagoon and was not disappointed. Arriving at Riverview Park during twilight, I had time before the sun rose to walk out into the lagoon on the end of one of the twin fishing piers of the park, where I found myself in the company of a fish crow, a seagull, and a lone cormorant beginning his morning dives.

Paul Kroegel, first National Wildlife Refuge warden in U.S.

Standing watch over the lagoon from the shoreline of the park is a statue of Paul Kroegel, the first warden of Pelican Island National Wildlife Refuge (actually, the first warden of any National Wildlife Refuge) and one of the earliest inhabitants of the area. You can read more about Kroegel and his efforts to protect the brown pelicans who still nest on an island just off shore here.

Absolute peace and calm lay on the water this morning; not even the diving of the cormorant caused more than a few very small but quickly dissipating concentric ripples on the surface. Two pelicans sailed smoothly into view, passed the docks, and glided to a landing without a sound behind me. The pelicans seem to be appearing in twos everywhere I go, these days . . . I've read that they do not mate for life but will stay together for an entire nesting season. 

 Distracted for a moment by a gentleman who came out onto the pier to pick up some litter that had been left behind during the night, I noticed that a ring-billed gull had landed on the pier behind me; how long it had been there, I have no idea, but it was amenable to having its portrait made with the sun rising behind it, even giving me a little bit of attitude with a stretch and a nod.

Turning my back on the gull, I wandered back out onto the end of the pier, watched the sun break above that low bank of clouds, finished a morning salute to the sun, and headed back towards the shore. With the sun now high enough in the sky to lighten the lagoon and expose the fish just below the surface and the fishing cormorant just below the gull, I realized, with a chuckle, that it wasn't the woman with the camera that had brought in the gull; no, it was intent on watching the cormorant and attempting to steal its breakfast, a nice sized mullet (I think . . .)

"Mine!"

 With poached mullet on the menu for the gull, there wasn't much serenity left out there in the lagoon. Soon there was a chorus of crows urging on the gull. The cormorant won, however, diving beneath the surface and holding the mullet firmly in its grip until the gull turned away. The cormorant resurfaced with the fish already 1/2 way down its gullet, and the gull had to admit defeat.

As I walked back to the car, I realized that I was not alone in that park, there were at least a dozen other people there, jogging, walking dogs, sitting on the park benches or in  cars watching the sun rise, eating breakfast, meditating, reading their papers (yes, printed papers!), and working puzzles.

Then, one of the pelicans that had flown in through my lens during the sunrise swam past me near the shore, seemingly gave a nod, and slowly paddled away . . .

Just another moment of solitude, right smack dab in the middle of somewhere.

Postmarked: Sebastian, FL