I was recently back in North Dakota. Yes, I know, we all make fun of that state. Even those who have roots there! But we drove by this slough, an ugly word for a surprisingly pretty place. It was more of a small lake, really. There were strange, misshapen, oblong buoys on the the water. One of them swung around slowly in the light wind and I realized that it was a pelican. Suddenly, I could see dozens of them, dotted across the water, way back to the reeds and cattails on the shore. Goofy, ungainly looking things, floating on the surface. Then, one reached out with angled wings and began to beat, moving across the water, the orangey head and beak with it's wattle of skin hanging down. Within moments, it changed from ungainly to oddly graceful. It flew just above the gray water, wrinkled by the moving air, and below the gray sky. I wondered if the fish were afraid.