Huge flock of pelicans plunges into ocean

This is the pelican equivalent of looters fighting over the last six-pack of baked beans in a looted disaster zone supermarket.

Hundreds of pelicans dive headlong into water that's not even a meter deep. Unless the shallows hide an unfathomably large school of fish, most of them seem to be diving out of pure instinct and optimism.

The remarkable scene was caught on film by Italian man Maximiliano Ricci, who can be heard muttering "incredible" as he witnesses the flock plunge into the ocean.

His video has been seen by nearly 30,000 people in the two weeks since it was posted.