Brown Pelicans
From the Chesapeake Bay Bridge and all coastal points south all the way to Florida, you can usually sight one or more Brown Pelicans in flight or diving in the water for food. Visit boat ramp or fishing pier areas and photo opportunities can increase considerably. This was such the case during my recent trip to Florida.
At one end of the area at a boat ramp, a fisherman was cleaning his fish while a group of adult Brown Pelicans patiently waited on the rocks and in the water.
There were a few juveniles but they were further away in the water, watching but not participating.
Every so often, the fisherman would toss a handful of fish scraps to the adults, causing a beak frenzy!
I was relieved the fisherman finished rather quickly. It looked like one pelican could puncture another’s pouch so easily!
Down at the other end of the park area, there was a fishing pier and a couple blocks of concrete in the water beside it where I found Brown Pelicans perched. These guys made it too easy to get some great shots. 🙂
I even got lucky to have one fly in for a landing to join another one. That’s a seven foot wingspan!
Side by side now!
After these shots, I started back up to the truck and had to walk past this fella again and quickly snapped this head-on shot.
As docile as Brown Pelicans are, they do offer wonderful portrait poses with those long grinning beaks. Makes you wonder just what are they thinking.
For today, be a pelican…..not a pelican’t!
What a fabulous series!
Thanks, Belinda!
I learned good deal about the brown pelicans in your post, thanks, and thanks for the wonderful photos of them as well.
Thanks, Jerry!
WOW! First of all I want to say, they all seemed to me as beautiful as cats… They are as you mentioned, so lovely and docile for photography… Fascinated me. You really did great photographs with them. Especially these beak traffic 🙂 made me smile and what reminded me, you know “hands of brotherhood”, it was something like that, beak of brotherhood… so beautiful dear Donna, and again, especially the sitting one… yes, almost they are like my cats 🙂 Thank you dear, have a nice day, Love, nia
Thanks for your comments, Nia, when I was reviewing my photos later with the beak frenzy, I thought also about how it looked like hands put in together like the ‘hands of brotherhood’. 🙂 And, yes, they resemble your docile cats, so calm, so quiet, letting you take as many photos as you want, all while keeping their eye on you. 🙂 Have a happy day, Nia! ❤
Great shots, especially the “beak frenzy.”
Thanks Brigham!
Oh Donna such lovely photos. You are such a gifted photographer!! Loved these ! ❤️
Thanks so much, Jodi! ❤️ Hobbies are so good for us, mine has taught me patience and a special love for birds and wildlife. 🙂
Such clear eyes! I think my favorite is the side by side photo. 🙂
Twins! lol 🙂 Thanks Kathy!
Beautiful close-ups, great work Donna! 🙂
Thanks so much, HJ! 🙂
Wonderful shots as usual. They are such funny looking birds. Loved your last sentence! Working on not being a pelican’t! 😀
Thanks so much, Gunta! They do have an inquisitive look. 🙂
You certainly pelicould. What a feast of great pictures, particularly the crossed beaks.
LOL great comeback! Thanks Tom!
Beautiful images! I especially like the image with them all bills/beaks together. All for one, one for all! We have these here, but I’ve never seen that behavior.
Thanks Deborah! 🙂
I loved these photos!
Thanks Terry!
Amazing shots, Donna. Love those comical pelican faces. Your motto for the day is a good one indeed. 🙂
Thanks Sylvia, makes you wonder what they’re contemplating…..when they want to get around to it! lol 🙂
Very nice post. Pelicans are a favorite of mine and you got some good shots. But your best shot was the pun at the end – I see what you did there! Today I will be a pelican! hugs
Thanks Beth, pelicans are a solemn-looking bird and lots of fun to photograph. The world needs more peli”cans”! 🙂 ❤
Beautiful closeups Donna. These guys are quite different to our Pelicans. Love the pic of the one resting crouched low:-)
Thanks Ashley! I had fun photographing them, the one sitting low on the pier really gave me an eye, I think he liked his photo taken…or maybe not! lol 😉
A marvelous collection of fantastic photos celebrating the brown pelican, Donna. This was a species that nearly went extinct, oh so lucky we are that it didn’t.
Thanks, Jet! You’re right, we are so lucky to still have them. They were only seen sporadically around us on the Chesapeake Bay a few years ago, today they are colonizing on small uninhabited islands in the mid to lower Bay. I love going south on the east coast and seeing them in large numbers. 🙂
Love pelicans and these shots. They have so much character. The detail is fantastic!
They do have so much character, I was excited to find them. They are such cordial ops. Very few migrate up to the middle of the Chesapeake Bay area during the summer and my photos of them are so far up in the sky. 🙂