Alas, poor Yorick!

I found this long-gone bird (a pelican, I
presume) on the island of Bartolomé, in
the Galapagos.  The island is uninhabited and
we were the only humans there at that time.
I learned later (when I had to step around the
decomposing carcass of a marine iguana) that in
these protected islands things are left as they
would be if we humans weren't here at all.

[Today is Shadow Shot Sunday. To see more shadows, go here.]

ABC Wednesday—P is for "pelican"

O, a wondrous bird is the pelican!
His bill holds more than his belican.
He can take in his beak
Enough food for a week.
But I'm damned if I see how the helican.
—Dixon Lanier Merritt, The Pelican [1910]

I've seen this clever limerick attributed to Ogden Nash
and also to Edward Lear. But credit where it's due:
Merritt was a newspaperman, poet, and humorist
(and if Bartlett's says he wrote it . . . case closed).

[To see more ABC posts, go here.]