An Australian Pelican angry with a seagull
Australian Pelican snapping at a Silver Gull that approached too close
Canon EOS R5 Mk II with a Canon RF 100-500mm f/4.5-7.1 L IS USM Zoom [ISO 400, 500mm, f/8.0 and 1/500])
In mid-June I was photographing around Wagonga Inlet at Narooma when I came across a group of Australian Pelicans resting on a small private jetty. I was amazed to see one of the birds, a reasonably sized one, sleeping on top of a railing, which looked very narrow for such a large bird. However, the pelican seemed comfortable. While I was photographing the pelican a Silver Gull was also trying to land on the railing to rest and it disturbed the pelican. Nobody likes being woken up by a noisy neighbour and the pelican reacted angrily, snapping its large bill at the intruder. After a few attempts, the gull few off to another part of the railing leaving the pelican to go back to sleep. I have placed more photos below to show the whole incident and to show just how wide a pelican can open its bill, which can hold up to 13 litres of water. In some of the photos, the pelican’s trachea is also visible. This expands to allow a pelican to devour whatever it has in its bill, such as a fish or even a seagull, on rare occasions. Fish will be tossed and turned around so that they go down head first to avoid the fish’s spines impaling the inside of the pelican’s throat. The pelican will normally drown other birds by holding them underwater before consuming them, although this is only when other food is scarce.
