Florida Pelicans - majestic and cheeky

They crest the white foam in perfect formation,

With purpose and strength they flap as they glide,

Fixated ahead in assured navigation,

Each trailing the other with nowhere to hide.

Then all of a sudden with no clear command,

They veer on some path and head for the sky,

Soaring the waves like a mischievous band,

Riding the thermals with a predatory eye.

No longer a pod but single torpedoes,

Spotting their quarry they launch with intent,

Diving at speed like rapacious mosquitoes,

To feast on that glimmering shoal now hell bent.

Again and again they dive to then surface,

Their sacks full of loot hidden from sight.

Transfixing, majestic, nature's true circus,

The curtain then falling as they once more take flight.

Florida's Pelicans, a marvelous sight,

Gregarious and cheeky with us so entwined,

Once hunted and culled as merely a blight,

Now in our hearts so fully enshrined.