He was creamy white with slight tints of flesh.As I peered at the great bill with a hook at the end,so light yet so strong,and thought,not for the first time,how strange and beautiful it must be that a creature so grotesque could know one complete moments of flashing beauty;at the very last split second of his dive,a fishing pelican folds his clumsy wings and cleaves the water like a hurled arrow,all grace,power,and precision. But at this particular moment I had a feeling that this bird would know more such moments.