On a clear early November morning in 2000, David was driving one of Roger Hunter's quad bikes across a paddock on his way to check a drinking trough some two miles from the Torakina Homestead.

About a hundred metres away on his right, a large group of Kangaroos were bounding along at break-neck speed on the other side of the boundary fence, whilst on his left he was coming close to a pond/dam/billabong, partly edged by low shrubs and a few gum trees. A number of white birds were sitting on the water minding their own business. However, the sound of the fast approaching bike disturbed them. In the centre of the group was a pelican. This was the first time David had seen one in the wild and he couldn't help but be amazed at the site as the pelican opened its wings, stepped off the water, climbed into the air, banked round to its right and disappeared behind the gum trees. It was an awe inspiring moment.

As the limerick suggests, pelicans are indeed famous for their beaks, which they fill with huge gulps of water, strain out the liquid, and eat the remaining fish or squid.

The Australian Pelican is said to own the longest beak of any bird in the world. Pelicans are a very distinct group (all 8 species belong to a single genus), and there remains a debate as to which other birds are their closest relatives. Fossils of pelicans go back 40 million years (Elliott 1992), so their feeding strategies have obviously been successful. Two basic types are used: plunge-diving (used by the Brown Pelican of North America and its close relative along the western South American coast, the Peruvian Pelican - Pelecanus thagus) and group fishing (used by the various white pelicans of the world). White Pelicans will form a line to chase schools of small fish into the shallows, and then scoop them up liberally. Adults have the odd bill protuberances in the breeding season, while younger birds do not.

Pelicans are among the larger and heavier birds in the world, so they are very impressive in flight. The various white pelicans, like the Eastern White Pelican of Eurasia, often show striking contrasts between white bodies and black remiges (although this younger bird is still washed with brownish). Two of the world's pelicans - Dalmation P. crispus and Spot-billed P. philippensis - are endangered by loss of habitat in southern Eurasia and southeast Asia, respectively. Breeding colonies of all species require protected islets away from predators. The Brown Pelican was heavily impacted by DDT in the 1950s and '60s, and breeding populations plummeted. Fortunately, they have made a great comeback throughout their range since DDT was banned.

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