I knew, when I started this blog, that I would someday have to post a photograph of the ubiquitous Pelican!  Not that there’s anything wrong with that; it’s just that Pelicans are sometimes a little overdone in the tourist shops – Pelican t-shirts, Pelican postcards, Pelican cups, even Pelican poems: 

A funny old bird is the Pelican
His bill can hold more than his belly can
He can hold in his beak
Enough food for a week
And I wonder, sometimes, how the Hell ‘e can…

Not my poem, but one that I first saw on a postcard when I was ten years old!

And, of course, the Pelican is the official symbol for the City of St. Petersburg, as you can see in the City logo that I’ve posted (with apologies to the City of St. Petersburg for absconding with their logo.  If any city official objects, please contact me and I will remove it.)

But, all that said, the Pelican is a pretty unique bird, and they definitely own the waters near downtown St. Petersburg and much of the waterways around the city.  And, while St. Petersburg residents have surely seen plenty of them, folks who don’t live around here might never have laid eyes on one, so a photo seems in order.  This shot is pretty typical – they like to sit around on the pilings, catching a little sunshine, and just surveying the area around them.   This was taken from Brightwaters Boulevard, on Snell Isle, and that’s Bird Island in the background.

Pelican Catching Some Sun (click on photo for larger image)