Hungry pelican's 'cheeky' move in front of crowd of tourists shocks volunteer
Several families got quite the show when a pelican decided to take matters into his own hands during a daily feeding in a remote holiday town.
A volunteer has shared her shock over the entertaining moment a “cheeky” pelican decided he wanted to catch his own lunch in front of a crowd of Aussie tourists.
Video footage taken by bewildered spectators, including several young children, shows the bold bird scoop a live seagull into his mouth not long after turning up to the daily feeding in Kalbarri — a popular stop-off for caravanning families about six hours north of Perth.
Local woman Jess can be seen hot on his heels, desperately chasing the pelican around in circles in an attempt to save the thrashing gull from being eaten whole. Despite brief concerns, the volunteer told Yahoo News Australia she was determined not to have any crying children on her watch.
“He’s is an extremely young pelican. He’s the youngest one I’ve ever seen. He hasn't learned his manners yet,” she said, adding that while it’s not uncommon, she was very much “surprised” by the “naughty boy’s” persistence.
Usually, if a seagull takes a mulie — a small fish handed out to children to throw to the birds during feedings — the pelican will try to consume both.
“But they won’t swallow [the seagull], they’ll spit it out,” Jess explained.
However, this wasn’t the case on October 31 when the young lunch guest worked to evade Jess for close to a minute. Eventually the volunteer was able to grab the pelican and hold its mouth open long enough to free the bird, which promptly flew away.
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'Cheeky' pelican refuses to spit out seagull
In the video, which has since racked up millions of views online, the crowd can be heard gasping and laughing nervously before cheering on Jess' victory.
“This cheeky boy did not want to spit it out. He was going to swallow it,” she told Yahoo. “The seagull was pecking away in there.”
The close-call, which many social media users have deemed “hilarious”, is a “regular” occurrence in the wild. “When they’re in hard times they’ll drown baby ducklings, they’ll eat seagulls — even when they’re alive,” Jess explained.
“They’re opportunistic so if anything there that can fit, they will eat it.”
