![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLc6DNzgVqyFLiyjFr2mDRgw-D0JHhvJGaWjsrM8RzrbRFJ3oBdNxRCuaLFleOAeMIflaoDRUKab1xDLOmhQQbJj_wuo0791hJ3mhlNL_bX0N9OwNy_nnhJZ3VAd5e_FxGyvjNgg/s400/Zoo+ducks+unweird-edit.jpg)
Normal looking, that is, until they turn and show their profile:
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhUPzzRLhpMbKJpTGysvTL7bm-kof1o9TuDFHFV8hPUGxZxae3kOwvr-TeZicekK-5VrT9L_zlUzMRya8yLkEzz5SuvrELwk0EtTEzilpnL9sww1V1vVo-J29AVGBQx0MgZ3b_STQ/s400/Zoo+ducks+weird-edit.jpg)
They've got big bumps on their beaks!
Thinking that this was a pretty weird looking thing, even by weird bird standards, I googled "pelican bump beak" to find out more about it. I learned that the bumps appear on both males and females during mating season. They basically communicate, "I'm hot for you, honey!" which is certainly what I had thought the big guy was communicating to me as I snapped his photo.
Here's another American White with even weirder bumps. This one is from the Edinburgh Zoo. Unfortunately, I did not take this picture, although I have been in Edinburgh. DrunkaHusband and I got married in Edinburgh, as a matter of fact. We'll have to tell you about that some time... if you ask very nicely.
Here's a lovely post about the ever-so-much-more-beautiful Australian pelican.
BTW, I took the pelican pictures at the Denver Zoo last summer, as part of an "incentive" trip in a program I was running to help teenagers quit smoking. Here's a picture of a few of my victims, during a little break from walking around the zoo. It gives you an idea of how successful my stop-smoking program was.
Not very.
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