Psalms 102:6 - Exposition

I am like a pelican in the wilderness. The Hebrew word here rendered "pelican" is elsewhere in our version translated by "cormorant" (Le Psalms 11:7 ; Deuteronomy 14:17 ; Isaiah 34:11 ; Zephaniah 2:14 ); but it is now generally believed that the pelican is intended. The pelican is a bird which haunts marshy and desolate places. It abounds in the Lake Huleh in Northern Galilee. I am like an owl of the desert; or, "of the ruins." The owl haunts ruins in the East no less than in our own country.