Desperate flight to freedom: Pelican’s miraculous escape from the gaping mouth of a blue whale

Unlucky pelican was diving for fish when it collided with the humpback whale

The bird could easily have been crushed or drowned by the huge mammal



Incredible escape captured by amateur photographer Rob Bishop at Port San Luis Harbor, Avila Beach, California

Mr Bishop said the whale, which only eats krill and fish, appeared to open its jaws up wider to let the pelican escape



There appeared to be little chance of escape for this pelican when the jaws of a huge humpback whale opened up beneath it.

But after disappearing into the huge mouth of the whale, these pictures show the incredible moment the bird re-emerged, then made its bid for freedom.

The pelican spent a few desperate moments flapping its wings before taking flight off into the air as the whale's jaws closed shut.



The game is up: A pelican found itself trapped in the jaws of a huge humpack whale after diving for fish in Port San Luis Harbour, in Avila Beach, California

Collision course: It appears the pelican and the whale had both aimed for the same pool of fish when they collided

It seems the bird had tried to dive for the same group of fish as the whale in Port San Luis Harbor, Avila Beach, California , and ended up stuck in the humpback's jaws.



But it appears the Humpback whale, which tends to feed on krill and fish, had no interest in eating a feathery alternative a nd, instead of descending to the watery depths which would have crushed the pelican to death, decided to open up its jaws to let it go.

This amazing sequence of pictures were taken by amateur photographer Rob Bishop who lives near the harbour .

He said: 'There have been an unusually large number of small fish in the harbour this year.



'Huge amount of brown pelicans have arrived and are diving for the fish. They have been followed by humpback whales coming into the harbour to feed on the fish.



Lethal: If the humpback whale went under the water with the pelican still trapped in its jaws, the bird would almost certainly have died

Miracle escape: The bird frantically flaps its wings to escape the jaws of the humpback

'Whales come up from below the surface with their mouths open and then close them before going back under the surface.

'In this case the pelican was diving down while the whale came up, causing the unlucky pelican to get caught in the whales mouth.



'It appeared the whale opened his mouth back up to safely let the pelican back out. '

Mr Bishop revealed he managed to secure this incredibly close-up images because the whale had ventured unusually close to the harbour walls.

He added: 'At the time I took the pictures I was standing on the Port San Luis pier along with around to 100 other people.



Freedom: The pelican finally frees itself from the whale's mouth in Port San Luis Harbor

Big friendly whale: Photographer Rob Bishop said the whale appeared to open its mouth wider to let the bird out before going back under the water

'The whales had been coming up farther out in the harbour, but suddenly this one came up fairly close to where we were standing. Maybe 75 to 100 feet away.



'It is very rare for them to come in this close to where people and boats are. It was amazing because there were so many pelicans flying overhead and diving into the water, a lot of seals also swimming around, and then the whales suddenly coming up so close to us.



'The sounds of all this along with the ooohs and aaahs of the crowd was very surreal.'



The humpback whale - also known as a Megaptera novaeangliae - is a species of baleen whale and adults range in length from 12 to 16 metres and weigh approximately 36,000 kilograms.

