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Tag: pelicans

“White” by name, but…(seasonal greetings)

 

…at least in portrait view, Pelecanus onocrotalus – the Great White Pelican  – is much more colourful than any version of Santa Claus.

No Santa – whether “bad” or “good”, repackaged by Coca-Cola or not – could even begin to match the pictured individual’s élan…almost-dishevelled, post-punk meets psychedeliia.

S/he (“she”, I think) and Pelican Yoga wish you a joyous festive season!

(to meet our hero/ine in person, Australians would need to use their passports)

Much as I would love to have taken this photo…

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Stolid feet, dancing bill…and a bit of “pelican yoga”

 

 

 

Over the relevant eight minutes I remained seated, as the sole pelican’s feet stayed still, several metres away, ”planted” in shallow water near Lake Monger’s western shore.

S/he reminded me of several Irish button accordion masters I have viewed from a similar distance – their feet moving not at all, but their body’s upper half highly mobile, its many movements oft-unpredictable.

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Flight, Coorong National Park: Pelicans

 

One of the pleasures of Australian life is to look up and see pelicans “surfing the thermals”, soaring, spiralling ever-higher, with so very little apparent effort.

They are also wonderful to watch as they take off from water (or land on it); then, however, a great amount of effort is spectacularly evident.

Pelicans are one of “our” world’s largest, living, flying “machines”.

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Pelican power (“Lake Monger 01.01.2022” series finale)

 

The wing’s shape is such that it can push effectively against the air, and also generate lift as it moves forwards, but that is no use without a very powerful downstroke to capture the air in the first place, and this is where muscular strength comes in.

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