Mr. Percival the Pelican has been with the Twinnies Pelican and Seabird Rescue for 18 years now and he just wants to be a father.
Unfortunately, he has been trying to take care of his hatchlings but none of them have hatched.
“Mr Percival has never given up trying to have a baby pelican chick. He sits on his eggs with his partner that shares the incubation and the eggs have never hatched. He has been doing this for 6 years now and we felt so sorry for him as it’s so sad when he [sees] the others around him [with their] baby pelicans,” Twinnies wrote on their Facebook post.
So the Twinnies decided to help Mr. Percy out.
They switched one of the baby pelican eggs from one nest to Mr. Percival’s nest.
Incubation usually takes about 35 days. But even if the eggs successfully hatch, they sometimes don’t last more than a few weeks. The siblings fight each other to the death.
With pelicans, both sexes incubate with the eggs on top of or below the feet.
And the Twinnies’ plan worked!
“Mr. Percival and his partner [have] been communicating with the egg and today, the egg hatched! And we just couldn’t believe how Mr. Percival was proud as punch,” Twinnies wrote.
Mr. Percival was so happy and excited. He and his partner were so in love with their newborn baby.
The Twinnies couldn’t help but watch Mr. Percival settle into fatherhood.
And do you know what they realized? The male and female pelican may have equal nesting time but the male pelican feeds more than the female bird.
And even if Mr. Percival had an injured wing that prevented him from hunting for fish for himself, he wouldn’t let that stop him from feeding his son. He would hunt for small fish to feed his baby son.
As the days went by, Mr. Percival made sure that his son was well taken care of. And it’s so obvious how much their son loves his mom and dad.
“We are so glad we did that egg swap for our Mr. Percival. It brings tears to our eyes as you can tell he is over the moon being a dad. It’s beautiful to see him being a dad, especially [with] what he has been through,” the Twinnies shared.
A month later, the other babies sensed his loving parental ways and would gravitate towards him.
“It seems that Mr. Percival attracts all the other little baby pelicans to sit next to him. When it’s feeding time it’s a different story. He tells the other baby pelicans to go to the other parents for a feed,” the Twinnies reported.
So many people love Mr. Percival’s story and they are proud to say it.
“Thank you for doing that for them!!! That is beyond awesome. Such beautiful parents,” Kimberly Duke said.“What a beautiful story, and what a wonderful thing to do. It makes you feel so good inside, you two are so special, thank you for sharing this with us,” Bridie McDougall added.“This is a really touching story. Thank you for doing this kind loving gesture for him and his Mrs. It would be so sad if he passed away and never got to experience fatherhood for himself,” Dez Irèe shared.
Watch the love between parents and son in the video below.
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