Pelicans

In the “Rime of the Ancient Mariner” we are introduced to the whimsical bird of large wingspan, good sea-breeze riding abilities and bad omens.  This, of course, is the albatross (also the bird associated with the rare nominal category for achieving two strokes on a par-five golf hole…birdie, eagle…).  To see a bad omen is curse enough.  To see one at sea is worse.  To kill one at sea, as the mariner did to the fanciful bird, spells certain doom impending.  The mariner seeks to purge his hands of his cruelty towards the animal and expunge the guilt and finds solace in the comforting voice of a hermit:

“He'll shrieve my soul, he'll wash away

The Albatross's blood…”

The resolution leaves him wiser, but not guiltless.  His soul still feels as heavy as lead, just as the bird seemed to sink into the abyss in like fashion:

“The Albatross fell off, and sank

Like lead into the sea…”

But if the albatross is the maritime ornithological symbol of guilt, punishment, and bad omens, the pelican stands – or rather flies – in stark juxtaposition as the symbol of mercy, self-sacrifice, and catharsis.  While this association unfortunately likely rose from a misapprehension in biology, that is, that the pelican seemed to be stabbing itself in the chest with its beak to feed its otherwise foodless chicks with its own blood when in actuality it was simply emptying its large pouch in its beak against its chest, the symbolism still stuck and the self-sacrifice motif remained.  This is ironic, in a sense, in that most of the beasts actually do die of starvation directly, but through blindness indirectly after having plunged into the water from dozens of feet thousands of times they lose their eyesight and can no longer see to dive after their dinner.  Pelicans actually don’t self-mutilate after all, and their self-sacrificial nature was misapplied.  They are still fair creatures, but they are bad metaphors.  They are good gliders, but bad symbols.  Also, they are good fishers, but dreadfully ugly.

On a different note, if you are going to shoot an albatross you may want to make like the ancient mariner use a crossbow:

“Why look'st thou so?'—With my cross-bow

I shot the ALBATROSS.”

Or you may just want to buy a double-barrel shotgun (you certainly don’t need an AR-15…).