My Pelican Encounters

Come to think of it, I have seen several species of the big birds, although the last two were in the not so glorified Singapore Zoo.

Other than the American White Pelican frequent my neighborhood, the Brown Pelican just a bit further out at the coast of California, and Baja California.  Different from the White on the hunting style, the Brown Pelicans usually fly high and dive into water.

Brown Pelicans at the Monterey Bay

Low flying troupe 

American White Pelican

Breeding Brown Pelican with bright pouch color. Baja California 

Saw the exotic Pink Pelican at the very gayish island of Mykonols in Greece. Three of them hung around the fishing port and the nearby restaurant area like local mascot.  I have seen they wandered into one of the restaurant kitchen and got loads of fish. Maybe because of free food and no hunting, they grew very big and I did not see them fly at all. 

With fisherman

Now try to pick up something with the length of the beak!

Crammed into the small kitchen space asking for handout.

Resting

I usually hesitate to go to the zoo. Seeing animals in the confined area makes me feel sad. But I may not get to see some of them in the natural setting in my whole life. Guess that's the purpose of the zoo.  Australian Pelican and Dalmatian Pelican.

The very comic Australian Pelican

Dalmatian Pelican with the unique hair style