Pelicans

Pelicans are large water birds with a large pouch, belonging to the bird family Pelecanidae.

Brown

Brown Pelican, Ft. Myers, FL. (The classic pelican photograph)

Along with the darters, cormorants, gannets, boobies, frigatebirds, and tropicbirds, pelicans make up the order Pelecaniformes. Modern pelicans, of which there are eight species, are found on all continents except Antarctica. They primarily inhabit warm regions, though breeding ranges reach 45° south,Australian Pelicans, and 60° North, American White Pelicans, in western Canada. Birds of inland and coastal waters, they are absent from polar regions, the deep ocean, oceanic islands, and inland South America.

American White Pelicans, Two Rivers NWR, Alton IL.

Of the eight species of pelicans, two can be found in the United States. The Brown Pelican, and the Ameican White Pelican.The diet of a Pelican usually consists of fish, but they also eat amphibians, crustaceans and on some occasions, smaller birds.They often catch fish by expanding the throat pouch. Then they must drain the pouch above the surface before they can swallow. This operation takes up to a minute, during which time other seabirds are particularly likely to steal the fish. Pelicans in their turn sometimes pirate prey from other seabirds.

Brown Pelican swimming at Ding Darling NWR, Sanibel FL.

The white pelicans often fish in groups. They will form a line to chase schools of small fish into shallow water, and then scoop them up. Large fish are caught with the bill-tip, then tossed up in the air to be caught and slid into the gullet head first. The Brown Pelican of North America usually plunge-dives for its prey.

American White Pelicans sun and preen, Ding Darling NWR, Sanibel, FL.

Pelicans do not store fish in their pouch, but simply use it to catch them and then tip it back to drain out water and swallow the fish immediately. The American white pelican can hold some 3 gallons (11 1/2 liters) of water in its bill. Young pelicans feed by sticking their bills into their parents' throats to retrieve food.

Brown Pelican Portrait, Estero Lagoon, Ft. Myers Beach, FL.

Pelicans swim well with their short, strong legs and their feet with all four toes webbed (as in all birds placed in the order Pelecaniformes). The tail is short and square, with 20 to 24 feathers. The wings are long and have the unusually large number of 30 to 35 secondary flight feathers. A layer of special fibers deep in the breast muscles can hold the wings rigidly horizontal for gliding and soaring. Thus they can exploit thermals to commute over 150 km (100 miles) to feeding areas.

American White Pelican in flight, Twin Rivers NWR, Alton IL.

Pelicans rub the backs of their heads on their preen glands to pick up its oily secretion, which they transfer to their plumage to waterproof it.

Watching the sunrise, Ding Darling NWR, Sanibel FL.

Pelicans are really fun to watch as they feed and interact with other birds. When you first start into bird photography, they are a great species to start with. They tolerate humans very well, and since thery are very large birds, they fill up your view finder with a medium length telephoto lens in many cases. Most of my pelican shots are donw with a 70-200mm zoom and a 1.4 extender. Their flight patterns are fairly slow and steady so they are very easy to track in flight.

Little Estero Lagoon

The Little Estero Lagoon is a place most people have never heard of unless you are a bird photographer. Ft. Myers Beach Florida sits on Estero Island in the Gulf of Mexico. There is 3/4 mile long stretch of tidal lagoon that sits between the beach and all the high rise condominiums. At low tide this area attracts numerous birds that like to feed in the shallow water left by the receding tide. This in turn attracts a bunch of photographers who like the fact that they can get really close to a large variety of birds in a confined area. Although it is not marked on any map, this area gets a lot of notoriety in the bird photography world. I have photographed here numerous times in the past and have always had good luck, until this morning. There was a beautiful sunrise with soft thin clouds that filtered the light like a giant diffuser. The receding tide had nice low water levels for perfect feeding conditions. I only had one problem, very few birds. I managed tp get a few decent photos, but it was disappointing compared to what I have always found there in the past.

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

The above photo on the left is a White Egret striking the water while attempting to catch a fish. The photo on the right is a Willet that missed on his fishing attempt and came up empty.  Working with the 800mm lens gave me a much greater working distance than what I have been used to. I would normally have to spend a lot of time quietly approaching the birds to get close enough to get shots like these. Even then I would usually have to crop in farther to fill the frame. So it was nice to set up and have a great working distance and still be able to fill the frame. 

 

 

Then when this Brown Pelican came in close enough,  I was able to create this beautiful portrait. The super telephoto lens does an amazing job of isolating the pelican and blurring the background.

 

Later in the day I moved over to Sanibel Island. I took a drive through Ding Darling National Wildlife Refuge, but the sunlight was pretty harsh and the tide was coming in. I checked into the Holiday Inn and hit the beach to photograph some shore birds. When you have a very big lens on a tripod on the beach you tend to attract a lot of attention. I was sitting down on the sand right at the high tide line with the tripod legs spread out to get as low as possible. This makes for a great shooting angle on the little birds. Everyone stops to ask what you are doing, what kind of lens you have, and how much does a rig like that cost. So I spent more time talking than shooting, but managed a few good shots. This shot below is of a Ruddy Turnstone. I really love how the long focal length isolatesthe bird and creates the amazing backgrounds.

The weather prediction calls for rain on Tuesday so I may have a forced day off from bird photography.