Wild Brown Pelican Encounter During Painting trip

This young brown pelican showed up at a local supplies store this morning while our plein air group was preparing for a day painting in a near by fishing village.To the amazement of all, the pelican walked up the path among cars and people to the front doors of the store.

As I walked to my car, the bird followed reaching his long beak up toward the food in my hand. When I held out a piece of shrimp, the bird opened his formidably large bill and took the shrimp from my hand.

Not liking the cooked shrimp, the pelican flew to the hood of my car and tried to drink out of a bottle that had been place there. (I was too shocked to run get my camera to capture that sight!) The young bird, which had been banded, may have been bottle fed and mistook the shape of the Arizona tea bottle for a bottle feeding.
When I got into the drivers seat, the pelican walked up to the windshield and looked in to see what I was doing... which was getting my camera to capture this amazing encounter with a beautiful wild brown pelican who was very friendly.


The pelican seemed to enjoy sitting on the car and was in no hurry to leave. He let me lift him lightly from the car hood and carry him to a safer spot.
Once the pelican was safety off the car, we continued on our way to paint by the creek with the knowledge that naturalists from the Cape Romain Wildlife Center had been called to assist this cold and hungry young brown pelican.