Birds Of An Unusual Feather

The pelicans of St James’s Park might not be as famous as the ravens at the Tower but, as former diplomat Alistair Kerr reports, their tale is no less curious

- Alistair Kerr

Back in the 1960s, when London’s Royal Parks accepted some American pelicans for the lake in St James’s Park, they had no idea that they would come perilously close to becoming embroiled in a diplomatic incident.

Pelicans of different species have lived in the park since 1664, when the Russian ambassador, knowing that Charles II appreciated exotic waterfowl, presented the monarch with two grey or Dalmatian pelicans (Pelecanus Crispus). However, as the pelicans have never bred successfully, the park’s population has had to be replenished from time to time. The Russian Embassy’s custom of occasionally presenting new pelicans continued during and after the Soviet era and other organisations—such as the city of Prague in 2013—have also added to the birds’ numbers.

According to Foreign Office tradition, the presence of the American pelicans resulted from a cold War rivalry between the American and Soviet Embassies. One day, a newly accredited US ambassador called on the Foreign Secretary, whose office overlooks the lake. He noticed the pelicans and was informed about their history and origin. Determined not to be upstaged by the Soviet ambassador, his opposite number announced that he, too, would be presenting some pelicans—American ones—to grace the lake, an offer that the Royal Parks management accepted gratefully.