back when I was first married, back around 1970 0r so, I went on a long weekend semi honeymoon with the new wife and we stopped down in the florida keys at an older motel that advertised it had a free fishing dock in the back.
well after checking out the room and having a late lunch and went out to see the fishing dock... it looked similar to this
except that if stuck out into the shallow bay of the keys, we purchased some live shrimp as bait ans found the bay was swarming with 1-2 lb fish
,the second we hooked a fish we had company, obviously a pelican who had gotten free hand outs before , because he waddled up cautiously and stood patiently about 10 feet away opening his bill, strongly hinting he wanted a fish.
now fishing was mostly the wifes idea, being very recently married I had other plans that were more personal time related, so as I brought the first 1 lb fish in, I unhooked it and dropped it on the dock in front to the feathered fish disposal unit that just flew in, and in about 3 seconds he had it picked up and in about 15 more seconds he swallowed it, (something I found amazing as the fish was obviously larger in diameter than the birds neck appeared to be!)
well I caught a second fish in minutes and the wife said, "LOOK hes still hungry " , this second fish was about 1/2 lb, I really doubted the pelican could eat a second fish after that first rather large snack, but now I was curious, so I pitched the fish to the pelican, who duplicated the earlier process in very short order.
the same process followed with a third 1/2 lb fish, at this point I decided to shoo the pelican away, he waddled to the dock edge , spread his wings and took to flight....but obviously not the way he expected to as he went beak first into the water ,
HAVING THE FLIGHT CHARACTERISTICS OF A CONCRETE block, and ON IMPACT WITH THE WATER, he acted confused,and even swimming seemed to be a bit difficult, as he seemed to be sitting deeper in the water than I generally see pelicans swim.
(too much added fish ballast obviously made flight a temporary impossibility.)
but we both got a good laugh at what was very obviously a confused pelican, who probably rarely go that much free food.
well after checking out the room and having a late lunch and went out to see the fishing dock... it looked similar to this
except that if stuck out into the shallow bay of the keys, we purchased some live shrimp as bait ans found the bay was swarming with 1-2 lb fish
now fishing was mostly the wifes idea, being very recently married I had other plans that were more personal time related, so as I brought the first 1 lb fish in, I unhooked it and dropped it on the dock in front to the feathered fish disposal unit that just flew in, and in about 3 seconds he had it picked up and in about 15 more seconds he swallowed it, (something I found amazing as the fish was obviously larger in diameter than the birds neck appeared to be!)
well I caught a second fish in minutes and the wife said, "LOOK hes still hungry " , this second fish was about 1/2 lb, I really doubted the pelican could eat a second fish after that first rather large snack, but now I was curious, so I pitched the fish to the pelican, who duplicated the earlier process in very short order.
the same process followed with a third 1/2 lb fish, at this point I decided to shoo the pelican away, he waddled to the dock edge , spread his wings and took to flight....but obviously not the way he expected to as he went beak first into the water ,
HAVING THE FLIGHT CHARACTERISTICS OF A CONCRETE block, and ON IMPACT WITH THE WATER, he acted confused,and even swimming seemed to be a bit difficult, as he seemed to be sitting deeper in the water than I generally see pelicans swim.
(too much added fish ballast obviously made flight a temporary impossibility.)
but we both got a good laugh at what was very obviously a confused pelican, who probably rarely go that much free food.
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