Repetitions and patterns again (‘taking off/coming in to land’, and the structure is the same for both sentences) but it’s slower, more detailed and specific in this snippet.
Some who wanted to fly were starting to take off, running across the water with big flat feet, flapping their wings furiously, and pedalling with all their might. Some were coming in to land, with their wings braking hard and their big webbed feet splayed out ready to ski over the water as soon as they landed.
In the same way when you’re observing a crowd for a while, you’ll look at everyone, at big groups, and at small clusters, Colin Thiele has written the same way, giving variety to his description of the crowd of bathing birdlife.
You might notice that this snippet has two halves. The first sentence is about some pelicans taking off, the second is about some coming in to land. If it makes sense for you, you might like to use the same pattern in your snippet: describe how people in the crowd leave and join the scene.
Here are some examples using the same patterns.
Those driving negotiated the traffic, weaving through the streets in oversized cars and vans, honking their horns impatiently, and swerving dangerously around cyclists. Those walking negotiated nothing, with their heads glued to their phones and their voices ready to yell and scream as soon as someone or something didn’t get out of their way.
A group of thrillseekers spun donuts in the middle of the field, engines roaring and pouring thick white smoke, rear wheels spattering mud across cheering onlookers. Another group had left their bikes to go on the slip ‘n slide, running full bore and then launching themselves bare-bellied onto the wet and soapy plastic sheeting, landing with a thwack and sailing down the slope into the garbage bins by the carpark.
