SANTA FE, N.M. — A pelican is recovering at the New Mexico Wildlife Center after Santa Fe police and animal services rescued the injured bird last week.

“Pecos Pete the Pelican,” as they’re calling him, is likely a long way from home. The New Mexico Wildlife Center didn’t hesitate to take him in after he was found hiding behind a bush, injured and in pretty bad shape.

“This pelican came in very dehydrated, pretty underweight. He clearly had not been near food for a while,” said Laura Siegel, a communications specialist with the New Mexico Wildlife Center.

Siegel said they take in injured, orphaned and sick animals and care for them. Once the animals get better, they release them back into the wild.

Pecos Pete is doing much better – but how did he get here?

“He probably landed somewhere, like either on a wet stretch of road that kind of looked like water to him or a small body of water, where there wasn’t enough room for him to take flight again. He ended up getting dehydrated again, hypothermic, and wasn’t able to get himself back up again,” Siegel said.

Siegel says, although it’s not common to see pelicans throughout New Mexico, they’re no stranger to the desert.

“They do migrate through here. We’re right in the middle of a migratory flyway so we get all kinds of interesting birds through our area. Sometimes we do see them in our hospital,” she said.

Pecos Pete is doing well but has been a little feisty.

“We have all been bitten by this pelican,” Siegel said. “He is feisty, is what I’m trying to get across. He’s alert, doing really well and is stabilizing.”

They expect to release him sometime soon.