"THE BROWN PELICAN" Top 5 Page for this destination Sarasota Favorite Tip by LoriPori

Favorite thing:
A wonderful bird is the Pelican
His bill will hold more than his belican
He can take in his beak
Food enough for a week
But I'm darned if I see how the helican
This humorous verse was by Dixon L. Merritt.

The Pelican is among the most ancient of earth's living creatures. There are a number of Pelican species in the world, but there are two distinct types in America. The one common in this area of Florida is the BROWN PELICAN. A very graceful bird when in flight, he looks quite clumsy when waddling across a beach or a dock, like this fellow in my pic.
I have always been fascinated with Pelicans. I'm always asking Hans to film them while in flight and as they dive bomb into the water to catch a fish. The Pelican uses his large beak/bill together with his pouch as a hand to feed itself- - perhaps the most effective fishing net in the world. Pelicans have a unique fishing technique. When it dives, it gulps fish and water into the pouch (up to seventeen pints of water is gulped in ) and when it surfaces, water is drained by compression through the tip of the bill, leaving the fish inside. Amazing isn' t it!!!