With so much fish around it doesn’t come as a surprise Australian Pelicans reside in Monkey Mia. Although some individuals are kept at bay with handouts during the dolphin interactions, most pelicans can be seen hunting throughout the rest of the day. They fly out to wherever food can be found, but mostly stay close to the shore to herd fish into shallow water – the same strategy as used by dolphins. Pelicans therefore like to shadow them and try to swim between the dolphins and the shore to capitalise on the dolphins efforts. Obviously not only dolphins are smart!
Terrific photos Maurice, wow!
Thank you Dries; I guess those fellas are so accustomed to humans that they’re willing to pose patiently 🙂
What a peculiar bird! The yellow eye really stands out. Amazing:)
They are very peculiar indeed – all none breeding adults have this yellow ring around their eyes. And that massive bill is about the longest in the avian world, with a capacity to hold up than 10 litres of water!