A wonderful bird....

...is the pelican
His bill can hold more than his belican,
He can take in his beak,
Food enough for a week,
But I’m damned if I see how the helican."

And, believe it or not, I just discovered convergence in this dang limerick. Seems the author is not Ogden Nash but one Dixon L. Merritt, who was once editor of the Nashville Tennessean, thus linking the other leg of my recent sojourn into the matter of pelicans. But first may I state that I was terribly pleased to get not one but two reasonably usable shots of these big birds down in Cajun country, starting with the photo that leads into this post. The plaster critter above is from the Atchafalaya Basin visitor center as are the more serious sculpts below, which better show the pouches under the birds' beaks which can hold as much as three gallons of water.

It may have been in Abbeville where the Sson and I found this antique (above), suggesting that sometimes ... a colorful bird is the pelican ... even when his famous beak was made from clipper blades. The dada-esque bird below is a representation of the mascot of Louisiana State University/Lafayette, which sat in the hallway outside the room housing Ragin'Bot.

As a further note about the amazing pelican -- there was quite the press kerfluffle in the UK when a pelican in a park reached over, scooped up a pigeon in its bill and swallowed the bird whole. As luck would have it, a freshly minted videographer was also on the scene; carnage here (do not open unless you have a strong stomach!)