THAT WONDERFUL PELICAN

by Jack Denton Scott ‧ RELEASE DATE: March 25, 1975

We've already learned the story of the brown pelican's fight against extinction from Robert McClung's Scoop (KR, 1972), but this is a truly unique view of the bird at home in his nesting ground on Pelican Island, Florida. Scott tells us just how this remarkable fisherman dives for his food from a height of up to 60 feet (inflatable air sacs cushion his impact with the water), how the young, looking like ""little antediluvian horrors"" are hatched and, pathetically, how the more aggressive hatchling will appropriate all the food, reducing his nest-mate to an emaciated shadow. Scott's passion for specifics is only part of his love for these ""ancient and lyrical"" animals whom he respects as grand survivors from prehistoric times as well as dockside clowns. Ozzie Sweet's photos capture the pelican in all these aspects, and include a poignant record of the struggle for survival between two nestlings. This is a match for the same team's Loggerhead Turtle, and in some ways superior since the pelican's habitat makes him so much more accessible.

Pub Date: March 25, 1975

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: 64

Publisher: Putnam

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 1975

Categories: NONFICTION