Brown Pelicans in Breeding Colors

Wednesday’s trip to the Beach included, as always, a quick drive down to Tokeland, to see the Godwits, and there was a small flock of them sitting on the piers.

Marbled Godwit

The highlight of the visit, though, was the huge number of Brown Pelicans that were there, all in different stages of breeding colors.

The hardest thing was getting a picture of just one Pelican, a picture without various body parts jutting out from the frame. One way was to capture one in flight,

Brown Pelican Flying

which was easier than usual because it was bright enough that I could use a high shutter speed without creating much grain. This might be one of the best shots I’ve ever gotten of a Brown Pelican flying, particularly in breeding colors.

And I managed to get at least one shot of a pelican floating far enough away from a dock that he wasn’t partly obscured.

Brown Pelican

And though I’m not as excited by this shot, I did manage to get a shot of one standing alone on a post.

Pelican on Post

Strangely, after all my efforts to isolate the birds, my favorite shot turns out to be this one of three pelicans in different stages of breeding colors,

Three Pelicans in Various Breeding Colors

though I had to use a little Photoshop magic to eliminate a gull from the picture before I was happy with it.

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