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The Pelican Beakon Newspaper: Introduction STORY AND PHOTOGRAPHY BY ROBERT NEFF

May 23, 2017. The Pelican Beakon is the Pelican Newspaper, a world leader in pelican news. Published in St. Petersburg, Florida. Established in Oct 12, 2014, The Pelican Newspaper covers pelican lifestyle, food, the weather, business, news, and much more. The Pelican Newspaper has exclusive coverage Pelican Yoga. You can find the Beakon on the web and social media.

Come October 12, the Pelican Beakon celebrates three years in publication. Remember our first edition?

The Pelican Beakon has grown into regional, state, national and international newspaper.

Meet the Beakon staff. Our staff photographer is taking the picture. We wish he had a tracking device. He is all over the place. We make him wear bright colored shirts so we easily find him. Second one from the right is wearing an ankle bracelet. She did "time" at the bird sanctuary.

Every morning the Beakon is delivered to your rookery.

Pelicans don't flap their wings without first reading The Pelican Beakon!

Enjoy snippets from a few long form stories published over the last three years.

Every year, The Pelican Beakon greets another generation of readers! This photograph was taken on May 12, 2017. The juveniles on top of the mangroves were born in March and born white. When they were younger, they were even difficult to see. Now they stick up like pop tarts.

Beakon Trivia: See the juvenile pelican on the right in the image above? Check out the pouch under the beak. You can see through the membrane. When the pelican matures, you will not be able to see through it.

On May 18, almost a week later, I stopped by the rookery just before dinner. The juveniles were anxiously awaiting a parent to return with dinner. Three parents each have one pair of mouths to feed.

This little great blue heron was hungry. The parent was only moments away from coughing up a whole fish. Look close. That bump in the throat is a huge fish.

The Pelican March is held once a year to raise awareness and educate humans on the vital roll rookeries have in the ecosystem. The summer just after the BP Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, the first Pelican March was the held on St. Pete Beach during the Summer of '10. Today, every city around the world has a Pelican March. Follow the webbed footprints in the sand.

Six years later, Florida tourism was setting new records. Such that the City of St. Pete Beach asked the Pelican March to have two marches per year. Now, St. Pete Beach hosts the main Pelican March in the summer at the 4700 Gulf Blvd Beach Access.

During the winter, Pass-A-Grille on St. Pete Beach hosts the Pelican March along the mile long Gulf Way Walkway.

Now that St. Pete Beach is hosting during the winter, snowbirds from up north and Canada can participate.

Be sure to arrive early and watch the groups from all over the world gather for the Pelican March parade. Each group has its own buoy where they wait for the signal to fly in formation.

The Pelican March parade assembles near the entrance to Pass-A-Grille. Then heads south to the southernmost point.

At Pass-A-Grille, the Pelican March headquarters is located at Merry Pier.

The Pelican March has packed the beach at Pass-A-Grille.

Make your reservations well in advance. Both the hotels and rookeries have zero inventory!

The Pelican Yoga Story Preview is available for free online. The story has had over 4000 views and it's just a free preview. And very rough draft at that! Our staff photographer wrote this. We have been counting the edits. That is why he is our photographer. How many edits do you count?

Lois is the white pelican who refused to be a snowbird and stayed. She started Pelican Yoga's founder. Our staff photographer wrote a book about her journey. It has thirty-one chapters. He needs an agent or a publisher. This would be a fun animated film for both kids and adults!

Part of the book proceeds go to the Bird Unity Yoga Movement. This provides much needed funding so Pelican Yoga can help all bird species, especially our youth of tomorrow. One of the foundation's goals is to have healthy youngsters. Proper nourishment at a young age enables them to be healthier, grow strong fast, and lead more productive lives.

Our dyslexic and unfocused staff photographer is busy working on another book. This book peels back the demise of Old Florida's Seafood Shack that was a community hub and Pelican Yoga Headquarters. Out-of-state owners hired a new marina management company who wanted to upscale and gentrify the marina.

When the new marina management company announced they were closing the Seafood Shack, imagine the feathers that were ruffled when Lois found out their world headquarters was being closed and demolished.

A petition was started to support both the Seafood Shack and its Pelican Yoga World Headquarters. Over 28,000 signatures were collected but the new marina management company just moved up the date to kick out the Seafood Shack and Pelican Yoga's World Headquarters.

Our photographer wants to write a book about this. We all agree that we are not sure if we have enough red ink leftover to edit this book!

The Seafood Shack made the best grouper sandwiches in the world! Old Florida tried to keep it a secret but soon all the magazines, snowbirds and tourist found out about it. The Seafood Shack became a St. Pete travel and tourism destination.

Black tuna "Go" bags were available as long as the black tuna lasted. This was the pelican's next best favorite after grouper!

Only the freshest fish was used at the Seafood Shack. The pelicans will miss the sashimi bar.

The Pelican Police broke up a grouper theft ring at the Seafood Shack. The snowy egret "Yellow Shoes" and his notorious "Feather Ring" were apprehended in a sting operation.

A judge was caught in the act taking a bribe!

Pelican Yoga classes are for birds of all different kinds of feathers. Beginner and advanced classes are offered at every rookery and select locations. Check with your rookery council member.

The master instructor in the wings fully retracted pose.

What balance! Pelican Yoga builds your core strength.

Advanced pelican yoga has a class that is held on pylons. This basic class is a requirement for the advanced pylon yoga class.

The Great Blue Herons attend Pelican Yoga class. As a result, hunting skills have drastically improved. Classes improved this heron's balance. He is now able balance on the mangrove branches and dine closer to the water.

Bird watching groups come from around the world to watch pelican yoga! This birding group is from Arizona. They were at the Fort DeSoto Park to enjoy the bird sanctuary. While there was not a pelican yoga class scheduled, the pelicans held an impromptu class for them. The bird stewards monitor the bird sanctuary. They stop humans from interrupting the bird sanctuary, but some humans are just clueless.

From October, through May, the Pelican Beakon covers the snowbirds! When the white pelicans are up north, they keep up to date on nesting areas and local happenings by reading the news with the Beakon's online paper.

The Pelican Beakon has access to all the local rookeries. You can advertise with the Beakon. Tours tend to be booked a year in advance!

Catch the latest weather reports!

Never miss a sunset! Send us your photos and we will post them on our sunset page.

After the sun sets, stay and watch the sky change colors. Every sunset is a new experience.

Stay up to date on ghost sightings. "Pelican Pat" is the legendary pelican who disappeared in a storm over the Sunshine Skyway Bridge. Others say Pelican Pat hopped on the cruise ship and is traveling the Caribbean. There have reportedly been “Pelican Pat” sightings all over the Caribbean.

Info Beaks has fueled the ghost stories and Caribbean sightings, but Pelican Pat's widow will not have any of this. She just pulled out some old photos and would not stop flapping.

Pelican Pat's ghost sightings are legendary. Report any sightings on social media.

The Sunshine Skyway Bridge is one of the top breakfast, lunch, and dinner spots for pelicans. Great for an afternoon preening your feather with mates!

Relax at the North Skyway Fishing Pier.

Take in breath taking views.

Watch the cruise ships go under the Sunshine Skyway Bridge.

Hop on a cruise ship and travel the Caribbean or Bahamas. But be careful. In April, the cruise ships are repositioning to Europe. You could get stuck there until the ship's return trip, which doesn't occur until the fall.

Cozumel is a popular destination from the Port of Tampa.

Interested in wreck diving in the Caribbean? Be sure to search The Pelican Beakon website for reviews.

If you prefer to stay nearby, there are many things to do. When the winds kick up, the kiteboarders head for the Sunshine Skyway Bridge. Pelicans treat the kites as shifting pylons. Every year the Pelican Beakon sponsors the International Kiteboard Slalom Run. The runs are timed and the number of kites your pass in between increases your points.

Two pelicans just passed the starting point under the Skyway's main span.

These kiteboarders has a tight grouping and a high degree of difficulty for the slalom run.

Or you could hit St. Pete Beach to relax. This gorgeous beach is always ranked among the Top 5 "Best Beaches" in the United States. This year, St. Pete Beach was ranked #3.

Beach access is easy!

Just take care of the environment. This is our home.

Enjoy more stories and images of what I get to enjoy everyday!

Purchase Robert Neff's Photography online at Saatachi Art, Adobe Stock Photography and Fotolia. If you see a photograph that is not there, let me know. I can add the image.

Venice, Italy. 2007

Condo Seniors and Driving The Divas are trademarks registered in the US Patent and Trademark Office. Pelican Beakon is Trademark pending.

Created By
Robert Neff
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Copyright ©2017 Robert Neff. All Rights Reserved.

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