Apana,
I know of few people who regularly handhold long telephoto lenses, but I don't know how you do it all the time. Ofcourse, to try out, I had handheld my 400 f2.8 with a 2x attached and had got a few sharp. But that was handholding for a few moments.

The image is sharp. The depth of field very nearly covers the full beak.

Getting the exposure right is the trickiest part in Pelican photography. Often the whites get overexposed.

Pelicans look good when the wings are completely up or completely down. In this case it is gliding over water and unfortunately the light is not behind you. That would have helped in lighting the underparts better. Light appears to be low as well.
What was the exposure?

A slightly warm light would have great. Thanks for sharing.

Cheers,
Sabyasachi