This was definitely the most bizzare thing I've had happen on Lake Mead.
My son Riley (8 years old) decided to try to wakeboard finally. He tried to get up a couple times, and as we circled around to bring him the rope again, we see a pelican fly down and land in the water only about 10 feet away from him (behind him where Riley couldn't see it). He was on his belly, working on flipping the board over as we yelled to get his attention, thinking that it was really cool with the pelican that close to him. He flips the board over and looks up to see the pelican about 5 feet away, swimming right toward him. Riley starts to scream and splash. We are all laughing, telling him that it won't hurt him and he should calm down.
So what happens next? The damn pelican starts to attack his wakeboard! It is pecking and biting and poking at the board with his beak. Of course, Riley starts to totally freak out then (a little understandably now). So we start yelling at the bird, backing the boat up to get closer, and throwing things at it to get it to stop attacking Riley's board.
A water bottle finally bonks the pelican and it stops. Then it reaches over and swallows the water bottle into its pouch. After we get Riley into the boat, we start chasing the pelican around the water, shooting at it with water squirters to hopefully get it to drop the bottle so it won't choke and die. It would scoot out of the way or fly a little way, and we would motor over and do it again. After about five minutes, it finally drops the bottle from its pouch and flies away.
Riley was traumatized for a couple hours, but at least now he is beginning to laugh about the whole ridiculous thing. Unfortunately, during the whole ruckus, no one on our boat thought to grab a camera or phone to take a pic. But some guy was on the shore watching the spectacle. Must've been interesting to see.
I don't know which species of pelican it was, but it looked similar to this:
My son Riley (8 years old) decided to try to wakeboard finally. He tried to get up a couple times, and as we circled around to bring him the rope again, we see a pelican fly down and land in the water only about 10 feet away from him (behind him where Riley couldn't see it). He was on his belly, working on flipping the board over as we yelled to get his attention, thinking that it was really cool with the pelican that close to him. He flips the board over and looks up to see the pelican about 5 feet away, swimming right toward him. Riley starts to scream and splash. We are all laughing, telling him that it won't hurt him and he should calm down.
So what happens next? The damn pelican starts to attack his wakeboard! It is pecking and biting and poking at the board with his beak. Of course, Riley starts to totally freak out then (a little understandably now). So we start yelling at the bird, backing the boat up to get closer, and throwing things at it to get it to stop attacking Riley's board.
A water bottle finally bonks the pelican and it stops. Then it reaches over and swallows the water bottle into its pouch. After we get Riley into the boat, we start chasing the pelican around the water, shooting at it with water squirters to hopefully get it to drop the bottle so it won't choke and die. It would scoot out of the way or fly a little way, and we would motor over and do it again. After about five minutes, it finally drops the bottle from its pouch and flies away.
Riley was traumatized for a couple hours, but at least now he is beginning to laugh about the whole ridiculous thing. Unfortunately, during the whole ruckus, no one on our boat thought to grab a camera or phone to take a pic. But some guy was on the shore watching the spectacle. Must've been interesting to see.
I don't know which species of pelican it was, but it looked similar to this:
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