The Scuttlefish

Great white pelican (Pelecanus onocrotalus), Walvis Bay, Namibia. Photo: Laurent Mercey/National Geographic

Pelicans are not adverse to plying the sea’s surface and shallows for food, but are rarely too proud to refuse a handout.

This great white pelican was met by photographer Laurent Mercey in Walvis Bay, Namibia, July 2010. The migratory bird, with its ten foot wingspan, is found around Africa, Asia and Europe.

See more photography in NatGeo’s “Visions of Earth” series — OJB