In 2012, explorer Ainia Dafente began a photo safari with the intent of documenting part of the life of a female Bluff Pelican. Her photo essay was on the pelican's hunting behavior, and the result is spectacular.
I'm not a bad hand at casual zoology across the D'ni Ages, but she makes me look like the amateur I am. So instead of trying to replicate it, I'll just show you her work in all its glory.
 Here is the female Bluff Pelican in her nest.
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 She is preparing to take off. |
 Her wings are fully spread. |
 She takes to the air. |
 She begins to climb for altitude. |
 And continues to climb as she heads toward the heights where male pelicans are already soaring. |
 Reaching the altitude she was aiming for, she begins to circle in a hunting pattern. |
 She looks intentley at the water far below her, seeking the telltale glint of light flashing from silvery scales. |
Something catches her eye.  |
 And she begins a gentle downward glide as she examines it carefully. |
 Certain that she has found prey, she begins nosing over into a dive, keeping her eyes firmly locked on target. |
 Her wings fold back as she fully commits to the dive. |
 Her wings are pulled in tight against her body as she begins a vertical descent at full speed. |
 Even as she descends like a rock, she keeps her eyes glued to the prey, and maintains that posture for most of the distance to the water. |
 When she is a few yards above the surface, she begins raising her beak into striking position. |
 In moments, she has formed a straight line from beak to tail, ready for the moment of impact with the water. |
 Seconds before impact, her body is streamlined to enter the water with a minimal of sound and shock, her beak poised to break the surface tension of the seawater. |
 The moment of truth has arrived, and she's just about to enter the water. |
 Impact, and her beak slices cleanly into the sea without a splash. |
 A blink of an eye later, she has completely submerged with only ripples to show that she passed. Olympic divers can only dream of such a clean entry into the water. |
 A spreading ring of ripples on the surface are the only sign that something is happening below the surface. |
 But an observer under the water would be able to see that her aim was flawless, and she has already caught something in her beak. |
 Prey firmly trapped, she begins to float back toward the surface. |
 The prey might struggle against its fate, but she has no plan to let it get away. |
 As she nears sealevel, it's clear to see that she's bagged herself a Noloben salmon. |
 Now just below the surface, she prepares to take flight again by raising her wings above water. |
 Her wings are the first thing an observer on the surface sees. |
 With a powerful downsweep of her wings, she lifts herself and her prey to the surface in one motion. |
 Once there, she immediately prepares to take to the air again. |
 Flapping her wings and kicking off with her legs gets her aloft in short order. |
 Clear of the water, she begins climbing again. |
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 The triumphant hunter returns to her nest, victory in beak. |
