First sighting of a Pelican was visit to Bulawayo Park as a young girl my father worded this....
A limerick written by Dixon Lanier Merritt in 1910:
"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,
I'm damned if I know how the hell he can!"
Very good limerick and very appropriate! I also still don't understand how they can swallow a fish half the size of themselves :)
We have the Great white pelican and pink-backed pelicans in our waterways on KwaZulu-Natal East Coast of South Africa, always a treat to see them in flight or paddling along.
Have seen them in flight never close up, smaller pink have had on local river quite close. Still time to see the great white!
Always on the lookout for the birds on our local waterways, exciting to see!