Behold the mighty pelican.
His beak holds more than his belican.
I don’t know how the helican,
but then, he is the pelican... Ogden Nash


Ogden Nash often gets the credit for the ode to the pelican, but it’s Dixon Lanier Merritt(1879-1972) who probably deserves it. His original - and earlier - poem was inspired by a friend who’d been visiting Florida.

Oh, a wondrous bird is the pelican!
His bill holds more than his belican.
He can take in his beak
Enough food for a week.
But I’m darned if I know how the helican... Dixon Lanier Merritt

And there you have it...and now here's a few photos of brown pelicans taken recently near Monterey, CA.