On a rain lashed fishing harbor dock, a brown pelican sat motionless among fishing crates and coiled ropes, too wet and too tired to take flight while the storm pressed in around it.

The scene, captured on a rescuer’s chest mounted bodycam, shows the scale of the danger. Waves slammed into the seawall, spray swept across the wet concrete, and fishing boats strained against their moorings under a dark, churning sky. A lighthouse glowed in the distance, but on the exposed dock there was little shelter for a bird with soaked feathers.

The pelican did not struggle as the rescuer approached. It turned its head slowly, blinked against the rain, and watched the gloved hands come closer. Dressed in a bright yellow marine jacket and a red flotation vest, the rescuer crouched low, spoke softly through the wind, and steadied the bird’s wings before lifting it clear of the ground.

Held securely against the rescuer’s chest, the pelican was carried away from the dock edge and toward a protected spot near the crates, where it could rest out of the worst of the spray. Its breathing steadied. Its body relaxed. The panic was over.

Rescue workers say pelicans caught in coastal storms often become waterlogged and grounded, unable to dry their feathers or regain the strength to fly. Without help, they can be washed off a dock, injured by debris, or left exposed to cold and exhaustion for hours.

Thanks to one patient rescue, this pelican will not face that fate. After a check and time to dry out, it is expected to return to the skies above the harbor it nearly lost.