That a line from Dixon L Merritt (1879-1972), quite playful that one. The complete poem reads"Oh, a wondrous bird is the pelican!
His bill holds more than his belican.
He can take in his beak
Enough food for a week.
But I'm darned if I know how the helican."
. Another version of this is that the pelican used to kill its young and then resurrect them with its blood, this being analogous to the sacrifice of Jesus. The pelican also provides another symbol for Jesus who allowed soldiers to spear at his heart so that man might live. So yes Church does take Pelicans seriously but that didn’t stop people from hunting it and were listed as endangered, now though they are making a remarkable come back (the Californian brown pelican that became almost extinct in 1960s due to DDT has started to recover after DDT was banned. Recently there were reports of hundreds of these pelicans dying due toxin algae along the south Californian coast; some think its demoic acid in phytoplankton, others blame it one low fish stock, while others on changing weather!).There are seven species of pelicans in the world. The pelicans can be divided into two groups: those with mostly white adult plumage, which nest on the ground (Australian, Dalmatian, Great white, and American White Pelicans), and those with gray or brown plumage, which nest in trees (Pink backed, Spot billed and Brown, plus the Peruvian pelican, which nests on sea rocks) The smallest is the Brown Pelican and the largest is Dalmatian pelican (with a wing span of almost 11ft). In Indian subcontinent the pelicans found are Spot billed.
Pelicans are amazing birds in the sense that on the ground they look so large and bulky but are excellent fliers, infact they can fly for 24 hours at a stretch covering hundreds of Kms at above 1000m with speeds up to 56Km/hour (that is nearly a Km a minute). They use air thermals and so don’t flap very often. Aren’t they amazing!.
The feeding habits of Pelicans have been in controversy in recent times. Although Pelicans prefer fish and other aquatic creatures, they are described as “eclectic carnivore”. Here are some lines from blogs I took. There is also discussion regarding a very infamous case of pelican gulping pigeon in a Park at UK. Then there is a very amusing exchange over whether Pelicans eat dog!!.
*I’ve always had a deep respect for the pelicans of this world. Sitting on a park bench quietly eating my picnic lunch (a meat pie from a wonderful bakery across the road) it was quite disconcerting to have an Australian Pelican waddle up and stand only a metre in front of us and eyeball us - or at least our lunch
*The video clip of the pelican taking a pigeon shows that they will - in desperation - eat something like that. I’m not surprised that the story of dogs being taken by pelicans is a myth.. I have been rescuing and caring for pelicans for over 15 years and have heard the story a thousand times of the person who knew the person who lost the chihuahua to the pelican……
*This is not an isolated incident. Years ago I heard of a rogue pelican at Renmark, about an hour’s drive upstream from Waikerie. This pelican had been harassing people have picnics on the lawns in front of the hotel. There was even a report of a small dog being eaten by this pelican.
*I have had 1013 pelicans, a metre from my face, and have yet to find a ‘rogue’ pelican. Yes, some are a little more aggressive than others. In the case of your Renmark story, my information has it that people have been feeding the pelicans at that location and the birds have become accustomed to humans. Any birder worth his/her salt would know that feeding wild birds is a no-no.
As for eating small dogs… hahaha… there is a bloke in every coastal pub on the East Coast, who can tell you the story of the pelican who ate the chihuahua! There is even a book titled, “Pelicans, Chihuahuas and Other Urban Myths”. And that is just what it is… a myth.
Regards
Lance Ferris
*Australian Seabird RescueOn the pelican “urban myth” I am a little more skeptical. I have not heard of the book you mention but at least one well respected birding identity has emailed me saying that the story of the dog is true. And that a vet she knew told her of the incident on the Gold Coast. I guess that is how urban myths start - all it needs is an ‘authority’ - in this case a vet - to say it is true. Whether fact or fiction, it sure makes a good yarn with a typically Aussie spin. Some overseas visitors must go home from Australia totally confused!
*Hahaha.. a lady phoned the other day, concerned about walking her chihuahua along a beach where there were three pelicans. Jokingly, I told her to tie a house brick around the neck of the dog, so the pelican’s wouldn’t eat it.
Only problem was, that she said, “Thanks very much” … and hung up! I still have nightmares of a tiny dog dragging a brick up the beach.
No way a pelican can swallow a dog. And the latest… only last week, a young man told me he SAW a SEAGULL swallow a chihuahua!
*The video of the pelican eating the pigeon, was taken in the grounds of a park in the UK. The bird is a European Pelican, and if you look closely, part of its left wing is missing. These birds were given to the Queen in the 1800’s by a king in Europe, as a gift. As for the vet with the ‘evidence’ of the pelican swallowing a dog, only last week, one chap said he even had photos of the pelican swallowing the dog. Oddly enough, he couldn’t find them… hmmm. Fiction, my friend
*Thanks for the information about the Pelican. This story just adds more intrigue to the stories about pelicans. That pigeon must really been annoying - or it looked very tasty. It probably saved the pelican the trouble of going fishing.
So there much maligned Pelicans, suffice to add here that Pelicans mostly prefer fish. White Pelican is the national bird of Romania, while brown pelican is the state bird of Louisiana (US) and Sindh (Pakistan) has spot billed pelican as its state bird (in India though no state has Pelican as state bird…which is surprising). In Minnesota (USA) there is a huge statue of Pelican that can be seen even from Broadway Bridge. Snaps taken at Kokkre Bellur (Karnataka).
*I’ve always had a deep respect for the pelicans of this world. Sitting on a park bench quietly eating my picnic lunch (a meat pie from a wonderful bakery across the road) it was quite disconcerting to have an Australian Pelican waddle up and stand only a metre in front of us and eyeball us - or at least our lunch
*The video clip of the pelican taking a pigeon shows that they will - in desperation - eat something like that. I’m not surprised that the story of dogs being taken by pelicans is a myth.. I have been rescuing and caring for pelicans for over 15 years and have heard the story a thousand times of the person who knew the person who lost the chihuahua to the pelican……
*This is not an isolated incident. Years ago I heard of a rogue pelican at Renmark, about an hour’s drive upstream from Waikerie. This pelican had been harassing people have picnics on the lawns in front of the hotel. There was even a report of a small dog being eaten by this pelican.
*I have had 1013 pelicans, a metre from my face, and have yet to find a ‘rogue’ pelican. Yes, some are a little more aggressive than others. In the case of your Renmark story, my information has it that people have been feeding the pelicans at that location and the birds have become accustomed to humans. Any birder worth his/her salt would know that feeding wild birds is a no-no.
As for eating small dogs… hahaha… there is a bloke in every coastal pub on the East Coast, who can tell you the story of the pelican who ate the chihuahua! There is even a book titled, “Pelicans, Chihuahuas and Other Urban Myths”. And that is just what it is… a myth.
Regards
Lance Ferris
*Australian Seabird RescueOn the pelican “urban myth” I am a little more skeptical. I have not heard of the book you mention but at least one well respected birding identity has emailed me saying that the story of the dog is true. And that a vet she knew told her of the incident on the Gold Coast. I guess that is how urban myths start - all it needs is an ‘authority’ - in this case a vet - to say it is true. Whether fact or fiction, it sure makes a good yarn with a typically Aussie spin. Some overseas visitors must go home from Australia totally confused!
*Hahaha.. a lady phoned the other day, concerned about walking her chihuahua along a beach where there were three pelicans. Jokingly, I told her to tie a house brick around the neck of the dog, so the pelican’s wouldn’t eat it.
Only problem was, that she said, “Thanks very much” … and hung up! I still have nightmares of a tiny dog dragging a brick up the beach.
No way a pelican can swallow a dog. And the latest… only last week, a young man told me he SAW a SEAGULL swallow a chihuahua!
*The video of the pelican eating the pigeon, was taken in the grounds of a park in the UK. The bird is a European Pelican, and if you look closely, part of its left wing is missing. These birds were given to the Queen in the 1800’s by a king in Europe, as a gift. As for the vet with the ‘evidence’ of the pelican swallowing a dog, only last week, one chap said he even had photos of the pelican swallowing the dog. Oddly enough, he couldn’t find them… hmmm. Fiction, my friend
*Thanks for the information about the Pelican. This story just adds more intrigue to the stories about pelicans. That pigeon must really been annoying - or it looked very tasty. It probably saved the pelican the trouble of going fishing.
So there much maligned Pelicans, suffice to add here that Pelicans mostly prefer fish. White Pelican is the national bird of Romania, while brown pelican is the state bird of Louisiana (US) and Sindh (Pakistan) has spot billed pelican as its state bird (in India though no state has Pelican as state bird…which is surprising). In Minnesota (USA) there is a huge statue of Pelican that can be seen even from Broadway Bridge. Snaps taken at Kokkre Bellur (Karnataka).
