The Fisherman Bird

Pelican

He is like a kite

While He is in his flight

And is quite a sight

When in the sky so high.

  Pelican

Pelicans are large birds with long beaks with a pouch underneath.  Their bare face, pouch and beak become quite flared and bright colored in the mating seasons.  The big pouch and small tongue are for catching fish and rainwater. There are different kinds that are all white or all brown or black and white.  Some species have their nests on the ground and some put them in the branches of the trees.  This big long bill with a pouch hanging down and strong short legs and then with the long neck makes this creature of nature very interesting indeed.  Just think of the great power of those long wings and how they can go where ever they want to go and then they too are great swimmers with their webbed feet as well as always fishing for their food.  Their bill can grow to be more than a foot long.  The pelicans live in colonies and the chicks like to vocalize very much so you can imagine how noisy it is in this city of birds.  The daddy will grunt sometimes but the adults converse mostly with their bills and their wings.  They like to soar high in the sky getting up to 10,000 feet high in the beautiful blue sky.

Pelicans and gulls take turns snatching fish from each other and sometimes the gull will sit on the pelican’s head and wait a chance to grab a fish when the pelican’s mouth is open.  The pelican will scoop up many small fish in its pouch and drain the water before eating them.  The pelican will catch a big fish with the tip of his bill and throw it in the air and play catch with it and then eat it.

The parents are mating at the nesting sight and the father brings the nesting materials and the mother lays usually two or three eggs occasionally up to six and after about a month the babies peck their way out of the shell.  Most of them do not survive but the ones that do are taken care of by their mother and daddy and when they can leave the nest they follow them around and start gathering up food as the go and will start learning to swim.