What a strange bird, the pelican -- it's beak can hold more than it's "belly-can". Pelicans are wonderful birds, and someone visiting the beach on the Atlantic and Gulf Coast of the Southern United States is sure to have an encounter with this odd fisherman. Pelicans are master fishermen, as they stand ready and waiting just for the right moment to catch any fish that you throw to them or that they might "borrow" from your fish bucket--if you're not watching! When not showing off or begging for food on the beach or piers, they are out over the ocean diving from 50-75 feet into the water filling their 3 gallon beak sacs with water and hopefully some little schooling fish included. Then they sift the water out and swallow the fish as they sit on the water's surface getting ready for another take off and dive. I don't think they ever get full! They nest in large rookeries on the outer islands and along the coastal mangroves near plenty of fish. The babies are so ugly that they are cute. Only a mother pelican could love them and they do--all 2 to 4 of them. Why would our Creator create such a strange creature? I don't know but I plan to ask Him someday. There are many strange things in the Bible and in Nature that deserve a lot of studying to understand -- maybe that's Gods plan!
- Uncle Burney ("The Builder" September, 2001)
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