Brown pelican, San Diego, California

© Arthur Morris/BIRDS AS ART/Getty Image

Pouch perfect. Brown pelican, San Diego, California

Today's image features the brown pelican, a bird that doesn't just fly but soars, spots, and dives with unmatched precision. Although it's the smallest of the eight pelican species worldwide, it's still a large bird, measuring about 4 feet in length and having a wingspan of 6.5 feet. It's a marine-dwelling species and can be spotted along the Atlantic coast of the Americas, from New Jersey to the mouth of the Amazon River. On the Pacific coast, it can be spotted from British Columbia all the way to Peru, including a stop at the Galápagos Islands.