Description
Don't carry large notes around these long-billed pilferers. Well, actually, your money's safe. Just watch out if you're toting a tasty fish, because American white pelicans are among the deftest of kleptoparasites : animals known for swiping other creatures' food. Terns , herons and other seabirds are frequent victims of such seafood snatchings. When pelicans stay on the straight and narrow, though, they're not bad at fishing – although they don't work as hard as some of their pelican cousins, preferring to trawl the water's surface and snap up prey rather than dive daringly from the air.