Brown Pelican
Pelecanus occidentalis
Brown Pelican · Tulum · 23 November 2023
A Brown Pelican riding the air a few feet above the sea off Tulum, the pelican of the American coasts from here round to the Carolinas and down both sides of the continent. It fishes the inshore water by diving, and this low glide is the far more economical way it covers most of its time.
The only pelican that plunge-dives for its food: it spots a fish from the air and drops straight in from height, folding its wings back at the last moment, where every other pelican fishes by scooping at the surface. Air sacs under the skin of the breast cushion the impact, and the bird always hits the water turning slightly left, to protect the windpipe on the right side of its neck.
Birds, insects, plants and other wildlife, mostly from Brooklyn, with some from further afield.
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