The London Traveler

Some of the most famous inhabitants of St James’s park are its five pelicans.

They’ve been here  a long time. Since the 1660s to be exact. (Not the same pelicans, obviously. Though the great white pelican can live for fifty years, so these are venerable birds.)

The first pelicans were presented to Charles II by the Russian ambassador. At the time, diarist John Evelyn was not impressed – he described them at the time as “between a stork and a swan”.    Which isn’t particularly accurate, and fails to describe their most unusual and noticeable attribute – the huge pouches under their beaks.

(Charles was also presented with two gondolas by the Doge of Venice; they plied a little canal.  St James’s Park in the Restoration clearly had something of the charm of Las Vegas today!)

I haven’t been able to find out the names of all of the pelicans. But two of them are known as Vaclav and Rusalka – they came from Prague  to replenish the small flock.

If you happen to be passing St James’s Park around 230 in the afternoon,  you can catch the pelicans being fed – definitely something  that will fascinate kids. Apparently each bird eats five kilos of fish a day. (Occasionally, they have been known to display more omnivorous tendencies – a couple of years ago, one of them decided to eat a pigeon.  The pelican’s beak is more than large enough to fit a pigeon in there, whole.)

The pelicans may be relatively recent arrivals in the history of London  – but they have become as much a part of the city as the ravens of the Tower. So perhaps it’s not surprising that there’s now a myth that if the pelicans ever leave St James’s Park, it will be the end of civilisation as we know it…

If you want to know more about the pelicans, and enjoy seeing members of the British establishment in playful mood, you’ll want to look up theHansard report of a debate in the House of Lords about the pelicans.  It includes the fact that each one costs £78.50 a week  – though that’s probably gone up by now; the debate was in 1995.

Photo credit: Kathleen Conklin, on flickr 

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