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Now, isn't that unusual?

Have you ever seen pelicans with blue feet and pouch?

A RARE SIGHT A blue-footed pelican

The featherless parts of a bird are its tibia, feet, bill, facial skin, iris, web and pouch. Nature paints these bare parts in different colours, denoting the age of the bird. The colour of a little egret's or night heron's feet changes from green (juvenile stage) to yellow (adult stage) to pink or orange (during the breeding stage). But Nature sometimes breaks its own rules and lends unusual bare-part colours to some birds.

Right now, Nature is displaying its quirky side at the Nellapattu Pelicanry, near Nellore. Bird photographer P. Ramanan's zoom lens captured a rare phenomenon during a recent visit to the pelicanry.

A group of about 10 grey pelicans stood out from the rest because of the colouring of their bare parts. Like almost all the other grey pelicans, the freaky ten were in breeding plumage.

But the colour of their legs and webbed feet were bluish — the regular colour shades between dark brown and black. Their slouching pouches were also bluish and had dark blotches — the regular colour is dull purple with irregular, bluish-black spots.

When twilight covers the land, this Albino bird looks as white as a ghost.

PRINCE FREDERICK

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