The first time I saw a brown pelican in North Carolina I was charmed by this odd bird. It may look gawky on land, but when a pelican takes to the skies it is sheer elegance. Undulating as it flies up and down along the shoreline, when a pelican spies food, it stops and dives, straight as an arrow, into the surf.
Brown pelicans can remain in flight for many hours at a time using slow, powerful wing beats.
While flying, they draw in their head between their shoulders, stretch out their broad, webbed feet and fly in perfect silence. Also strong swimmers, young pelicans barely able to fly have been timed swimming at 3 miles per hour. Primarily fish eaters, pelicans require up to 4 pounds of fish a day. They have extremely keen eyesight. Flying over water, sometimes as high as 70 feet, pelicans can spot a single fish.