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I love pelicans

I love to watch pelicans sail by.  Despite their huge beak, I find them beautiful, graceful, and powerful flyers.

I work on an off shore drilling platform in the Gulf of Mexico.  The table scraps are thrown overboard for the fish life to eat.  And yes, this is legal.  The fish come to the surface and put on a real show.

Today, while throwing leftovers, into the water for the blue runners to eat.  Blue runners are a type of fish that colonize around off-shore platforms.  The blue runners come to the surface in a feeding frenzy.  A female pelican had been hanging around the rig today.  Since we are 100 miles off shore.  Pelicans are not real common.

This pelican seized the oppurtunity to grab, about 20 of this fish to eat. 

It was amazing.  We guessed that the pelican would be unable to fly.  But she took flight and looked no bigger than before eating the 20 fish.

I have heard of a pelican eating a pigeon in England.  Does anybody have any good pelican stories?

Tagged:
birds wildlife Fish off-shore bird watching