I’ve been perplexed and curious about something I watched this pelican do for over six years now. But the purpose I tentatively propose for the behavior I documented in these photos seems more than a little far fetched so I’ve never brought it up. Until now.
I sometimes liken American White Pelicans to B–52 Stratofortresses – they often fly at great heights and they’re not very agile in flight but man are they ever impressive during landings.
American White Pelicans are a species I should train my lens on more often. While they’re sitting on the water they often don’t make a very interesting subject but getting that huge 16 lb. body airborne is a real struggle so photos of them taking off have much more interest for many of us.
I rarely appreciate “accidental” birds in my photos competing with the primary subject. But there are exceptions and it happened twice with this landing American White Pelican.
This is a continuation of the events from yesterdays post where an American White Pelican had repeatedly tried to swallow a very large, headless carp but due to the size of the fish and persistent pressure from other pelicans the effort (and the fish) had been abandoned.