Fall arrives in South Louisiana with the white pelicans

The thing I love most about my job is watching the swamps and marshes change with the seasons. Peg talks about how when the leaves start changing in New York, like they were when we were there, she gets "that Fall feeling". Well, for me that Fall feeling comes over me when I see the arrival of the white pelicans. Louisiana's State Bird the brown pelican, is a year around resident of the marshes. His cousin, the white pelican, summers elsewhere and with our summer heat and humidity, I don't blame him sometimes. When these stately white birds are landed, paddling about on the water they appear solid white. It's only in flight that you can see the sharply contrasting black wing tips. My first sighting of the white pelicans is what fills me with anticipation of the approaching Fall. A time of cooler weather, longer nights, camp fires, gumbo pots...... sigh, Who says our seasons dont change down here in bayou country.