While I was waiting for the San Francisco Fleet Week air show to begin I met an unlikely couple of friends. A fisherman and a Pelican sat calmly along the pier sharing fish and friendship before during and after the 4+ hour long performance with jets flying overhead and docs filled with spectators.

Odd friends

I was curious how this relationship came about as most fishermen seemed to have a strong dislike for birds that compete with them for fish so I asked him about this odd friendship and the Pelican watched over us from a couple feet away. The fisherman found the Pelican several months ago sick and dying of malnutrition and kindly shared some of his fish with it. That was all it took. The Pelican visits the Fisherman often though does not seem to like other people much. The man would share some of the fish he caught and pat his friend on the head and the Pelican would stand next to him as he would cast his line again.

Fisherman and his Friend

Tourists would come to take a photo and try and pet the Pelican as it sat so peacefully next to the fisherman only to get a cold hiss and in some cases the bird would try and bite them if they reached out to pet it but the Pelican did not mind the Fisherman’s attention at all. They were friends of a different feather but they did stick together well.

Pelican Pose

This was a good reminder to me to appreciate the side stories to the events and take a little more time to chat with folks around instead of getting caught up in just the main events.