The Sword Swallowing Pelican
While interviewing Kelly Grinter, of the Marathon Wild Bird Center for a nice benign article on how to deal with hooked and line tangled sea birds, she drops a bomb shell on me. Recently she had a call from a captain at Keys Fisheries, in Marathon, that a pelican had eaten his fillet knife. Kelly thought they were goofing on her but responded to the call. The captain pointed out the bird. Kelly caught the bird and ran her hand down the bird's throat. Sure enough there was the fillet knife.
I have known for a long time that pelicans aren't the sharpest tacks in the box. You know a few fries short of a happy meal, but that is just plain weird. Imagine the video hits for a sword swallowing pelican act. Red Skelton's Gertrude and Heathcliff would have nothing on the Amazing Duffous, Sword Eater.
I wrote an article a while back about Iranians arresting squirrels. In that I included a link to a video of a pelican eating a pigeon. That I thought was weird but, a fillet knife? So is there some serious pelican inbreeding going on or what. Maybe there is a growing culture of Emo pelicans? Since they don't have wrists maybe they go for the fillet knives for attention?
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Published by captdallas2
Florida Keys life inspires many to artistic endeavor. CaptDallas2 is no exception. Writing songs, music and articles fills his time off the water. From boating to how to wipe your butt, the politically in... View profile
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11 Comments
Post a Commentnever heard that before
After reading this, I no longer have to wonder why 'they' coined the term: Bird brain - lol!
That's just bizarre, but very interesting.
I find it funny that as I started to write a comment on this, I saw the ad for "Interview with Sword-swallower Dan Meyer..." right above the comment section. "February is National Swallowing Disorders Month..." Hilarious!
The Pelican didn't seem to be injured by the knife, though it is in serious need of a shrink.
So what happened to the bird? I'm in suspense now!
HAHAHAH! I would like to know if the pelican is OK and if it still has the knife in its throat.
I could see the bird thinking the knife (if it was small enough) being shiny might be fish. But unless it swallowed it handle first, I would think it would have changed its mind about eating it. I also bet the bird was really still after he got it down. Kind of funny, but sad for the bird. At least she got it out and the bird didn't have to try to pass it. OUCH
It's old (I am too) and I still like, "the sharpest tack in the box"!
"A few fried short of a Happy Meal" destined to become a classic!