antics, Australian Bird Guide, beach, birds, books, charming, Danny Rogers, feathers, fish, Jeff Davies, Kim Franklin, lakes, pelican, Peter Marsack, Peter Menkhorst, rivers, Rohan Clarke, sand, sociable, sunrise, tides, waves - May 14, 2020

Gentle Giants

It is amazing that Pelicans have been around for so long. Fossil evidence of pelicans dates back at least 30 million years and it would be hard to believe that these very gentle birds could ever be a species of the dangerous dinosaurs.

I loved travelling to the coast with my Mum and Dad and siblings when we were little and enjoyed watching in sheer amazement these great big white angels of the sky, the way they silently and gracefully glided around with very little effort.

Along the waters edge, they would waddle up near us, I suppose they were hoping we would throw them a fish or 2, but the way they looked at us through those big innocent eyes had us all in awe, mind you at the time they were nearly as big as us.

They appeared to spend most of their time when they weren't searching for food, grooming and cleaning their feathers.

Birds feathers are very complex, being very light but very strong. The revised edition of the book "The Australian Bird Guide" written by Peter Menkhorst, Danny Rogers, Rohan Clarke 2019 and illustrated by Jeff Davies, Peter Marsack, and Kim Franklin 2019 is brilliant reading and explains in great detail about bird feathers and everything else about birds. This revised book was published by CSIRO in 2019 you can also read all about the Authors and Illustrators on this link.

Knowing all about bird feathers now helps me to understand why birds always seem to be cleaning and grooming their feathers, but there is no uncertainty with the Pelican being just a beautiful bird that compliments our coastal waters and lakes. Pelicans are also found in other countries around the world, but not in countries with very cold temperatures. To watch them fly was just amazing. Please enjoy the remaining photos