Brown pelicans are common birds of the coasts, fishing singly or in large groups. They scrap with other pelicans for food – I saw numerous pelicans whose pouches had been holed by other pelicans or by the equally predaceous frigatebird. Sometimes they feed by plunge diving, though in this practice they are much less graceful than the plunge-diving boobies, landing in the water with an ungainly splash instead of the boobies’ neat dive.

Like most native animals of the Galápagos, their personal space is much smaller than species long acclimated to human presence. This group of pelicans readily approached the swimmers and while they maintained a minimal distance, their close approach would be unthinkable almost anywhere else.

Image #30491

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