A pair of brown pelicans who were blown into Rhode Island by Hurricane Sandy’s blustery gusts will get a lift back to Florida in a private plane this weekend.

“This is not a hugely unusual occurrence when you have a storm of that magnitude,” said Kristin Fletcher, executive director of the nonprofit Wildlife Rehabilitators Association of Rhode Island. “They just get caught up in the winds. I can’t even begin to imagine what that trip must have been like.”