Twinnies Pelican and Seabird Rescue in the Queensland area of Australia is run by a pair of sisters, Paula and Bridgette Powers, who really love their native waterbirds.
For nearly two decades, they’ve cared for sick and injured seabirds before safely releasing them back into the wild. In certain special cases they take in birds who can’t live in the wild on their own.
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That’s how the dam on their property became home to a pelican named Mr. Percival 18 years ago.
Mr. Percival suffered an injury that resulted in the loss of a wing, so the sisters for a permit to allow him to live with them full-time.
It’s not uncommon for wild pelicans to nest and breed on the land and the sisters have noticed Mr. Percival’s wish to do the same.
For the last six years, he has partnered with a lady bird to nest and care for an egg, but sadly, none of his eggs have successfully hatched.
After seeing how sad Mr. Percival was watching all the other couples with their new chicks, the twins decided to ensure that he had the opportunity to experience fatherhood of his own.
This year they swapped his only egg with one from another nest and the effect was clear before it even hatched.
“Mr Percival and his partner has been communicating with the egg and today the egg hatched and we just couldn’t believe how Mr Percival was proud as punch.”
They shared his story alongside a couple of photos of the proud parents and their tiny, naked chick. Pelican babies are very fragile and parents continue to sit on them to keep them warm until their first feathers come in.
A few weeks since the hatching and the baby is already much bigger and very healthy.
Mr. Percival feeds the chick plenty of fish that he collects himself alongside the pelican parents of the five chicks currently being cared for on the rescue’s land.
Pelicans have a life expectancy of 15-25 years, so it’s possible that this may be his only chance at fatherhood.
“Mr Percival just loves his baby, he just melts our hearts,” the sisters shared .
h/t: The Dodo
