This poor pelican just couldn’t make up its mind.
Two days ago while driving the auto tour loop at Bear River MBR I came upon a group of American White Pelicans on the west side of the loop. They had good light on them but they were on the right side of my pickup so I couldn’t photograph them out my driver’s side window and if I tried to turn around on the narrow road I would probably spook them. So I used my only practical option and quickly stopped on the road and got out of my pickup to photograph them over the bed of my truck.
I knew I was too close for flight shots with my 500mm lens with teleconverter so I grabbed what I call my “baby lens” with a spare camera attached and went for the gusto. I had little time to adjust my settings so all I did was check my exposure and fire away with fingers crossed.
1/5000, f/6.3, ISO 500, Canon 7D, Canon EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS II USM @ 321mm, not baited, set up or called in
The pelicans were spread loosely on the bank of the canal so I had to choose one of them to focus on and this one caught my attention when it yawned. It’s possible it was in the process of beginning to stretch its pouch (something pelicans often do) because it did open its bill wider than this but I believe it was just yawning. The horny caruncle on top of its upper mandible appears to be damaged (normally its shape is a half-circle) and the patches of black we see in this photo and others are remnants of phragmites burns from last fall.
When I see a pelican with its bill open and showing off more of its huge pouch than we usually see I often think of the this delightful poetic ditty. I’ll bet some of my readers do the same.
- “A wonderful bird is the Pelican.
His beak can hold more than his belly can.
He can hold in his beak
Enough food for a week!
But I’ll be darned if I know how the hellican?”
― Dixon Lanier Merritt
After the yawn there was another pelican in front of this one that I focused on but when this bird started to take off…
1/5000, f/6.3, ISO 500, Canon 7D, Canon EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS II USM @ 321mm, not baited, set up or called in
I quickly swung my lens to my left to photograph it as it lifted off. This was my first shot of the bird which was already in its second wing-stroke of takeoff. It’s probably my favorite pelican photo from yesterday and initially it was my intention to post it as a stand-alone but in the end I thought the indecisiveness of this bird made for an interesting story so I decided to tell it with a series of photos.
By now the pelican out of frame to the right was also taking off in the same direction.
1/5000, f/6.3, ISO 500, Canon 7D, Canon EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS II USM @ 321mm, not baited, set up or called in
In the next frame the pelican already seemed undecided about its decision to leave and two frames later…
1/5000, f/6.3, ISO 500, Canon 7D, Canon EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS II USM @ 321mm, not baited, set up or called in
it plopped back down into the water only a few feet from its initial point of takeoff. Takeoff aborted, or so I thought.
During cropping I centered the bird in the frame because the other pelican is just out of frame to the right in this version. If you’re curious about that other bird…
1/5000, f/6.3, ISO 500, Canon 7D, Canon EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS II USM @ 321mm, not baited, set up or called in
here’s another crop of the previous image that includes most of it. In this shot it becomes apparent that the pelican on the left is aborting takeoff while the other one continues on its way. But this story isn’t over yet.
1/5000, f/6.3, ISO 500, Canon 7D, Canon EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS II USM @ 321mm, not baited, set up or called in
As the first pelican’s feet landed in the shallow water it changed its mind and started to take off again. I suspect the photobombing White-faced Ibis in the background was as amused as I was by the indecisiveness of the much larger bird it was sharing the shoreline with.
1/5000, f/6.3, ISO 500, Canon 7D, Canon EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS II USM @ 321mm, not baited, set up or called in
For two more wing flaps the first pelican continued its second takeoff…
1/5000, f/6.3, ISO 500, Canon 7D, Canon EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS II USM @ 321mm, not baited, set up or called in
before apparently saying to hell with it and settling back down into the water as the second pelican went on its way.
I often say that with birds it’s the “little things” that amuse me and this twice-aborted takeoff did exactly that. Some of these photos are far from technically perfect but I don’t need perfection to re-live the moment and enjoy it all over again.
Ron
It seems amazing to me that a bird would abort takeoff twice in short order. But then, it’s those odd things that make birdwatching fun.
What great pictures. Love pelicans, haven’t seen any in years. Upstate NY is not on their list of place to visit. Used to see them when in Hollywood Fla years ago. Thanks.
Thank you, Sarah.
My father often recited that ditto to me. And I am filled with indecision.
Love pelicans. And am always awed when they take to the air. They are such improbable looking flyers (if that makes sense).
Makes sense to me, EC.
I am probably the only one of your readers who has never heard this “poetic ditty”, as you call it. We didn’t have pelicans in Minnesota, at least where I lived, so maybe that’s why my Grandmothers never recited the poem. It is cute and catchy.
Quite a series of photos with the poor pelican who couldn’t decide or just couldn’t get airborne for some reason.
Thank you for the photos, Ron
Well now you’ve heard of it, Alice. And it sounds like you enjoyed it too, as I think most of the rest of us do.
I enjoyed watching a group of American White Pelicans a couple of weeks ago. They let me spend over an hour watching and photographing until another car came along and the people got out and spooked the pelicans off. The light that day was not as rich as in your photos, but I was able to catch interesting behaviors and for me what I deem individual personality. I had to laugh at the poem, I posted the same poem last night on Mia’s facebook pelican post. We birders must all have a similar bird brain!
Pelicans are interesting to work with in rehab. I find them a relatively sweet bird, a bit snappy in their initial defense, but seem to mellow when food is offered. They are odd feeling to hold, their bodies are full of air sacks that are squishy like bubble wrap. The edges of their beak is sharp and can give you a good cut if you run a finger along it. The worst part of pelicans is the pouch mites that crawl on you, they bite, all pelicans seen to have some and when the pelican is sick the mites jump ship and crawl onto any other living thing.
“We birders must all have a similar bird brain! ”
I think there’s some truth to that, April!
That’s absolutely fascinating stuff you mentioned about rehabbing pelicans, air sacs, pouch mites etc. Love knowing about those kinds of things!
Decisions. Decisions. What a fun series! Every time you or Mia post a “Pelipic,” the poem pops into my mind. Thanks for a giggle today!
I’m glad you enjoyed it, Marty. I almost didn’t post the poem because I knew all my readers would already be familiar with it but since I enjoy seeing it again occasionally I just went for it…
These pictures of the struggle of a bird with a heavy body and huge wings to take off gave me an eerie sense of what being wing-ed really means. Lovely.
Thanks, Sallie.
Love that little ditty, and yes, I can recite it from childhood, too! What a fun memory of my grandmother. Thank you!
I know the reason for the aborted takeoffs! On the first, the pelican realized it had forgotten its glasses and keys. The second abort happened because s/he forgot why s/he was taking off in the first place! 😉
I just love white pelicans. Watching them do the flock thing in Dallas were just magical times! We have such cool critters on this spinning rock!
I thought I was the one who walked into the room and forgot why I went there!
Not alone. And I so often march PURPOSEFULLY into that room and find myself clueless.
The only room I can reliably walk into and not forget why I went there is the bathroom…
Just wait! 😉
It was a race and the other bird cheated so the focus bird just gave up.
The focus bird was not yawning, he was yelling, “Hey you chicks, get off my pond!”
I could go on. 😀
I’m a Louisiana girl by raising so pelicans will always have a special place in my heart. 😀
🙂
Like a big plane you wonder how they ever get off the ground. Apparently, sometimes they don’t ❗️
I’ve wondered the same thing, Arwen – especially when I’m close and hear all the noise they make at takeoff.
“A wonderful bird is the pelican…” Reminds me of my grsndmother. She lived in Coral Gables, Fla. and used to recite that…
It probably reminds many of us of someone…
Love that ditty, my dad would recite it when we would ride the ferry to and from Port Aransas, he would have been 102 Friday.
My dad would be 98 if he was still with us, Jo. I miss him a lot but poetry wasn’t his bag, except possibly for limericks when he was in the army… 🙂
Super series Ron!
Charlotte
Thanks, Charlotte.
Ron – forgot to mention too that we get a huge flock for one overnight each season and then they leave in the late morning for your Gunnison Island. But every so often we get one or two stragglers who hang around for a month or so. The last straggler we had was numbered with the Utah tag. Was really interesting to observe him/her while here.
Everett
An amazing number of pelicans breed on Gunnison Island, Everett. And many of the youngsters are tagged.
The photos are great—-but you stopped me at the “caruncle”–a totally new reference to me–does it have a known function ?
The caruncle of this species is thought to be a sexual ornament, Kris. It’s shed at the end of the breeding season.
Great pictures Ron. Aborted takeoffs are a good thing. Much more time and many more chances for the photographer ………..
Everett Sanborn, Prescott AZ
And I need all the chances I can get, Everett! Thanks.
Fun! 🙂 Do I or don’t I? 🙂 They seem to be such clumsy bird and yet a flock in flight soaring leaves me in awe………
Agree about soaring pelicans, Judy. I watched a large flock of them doing just that not too long after this series was taken.
Indecisions…I guess we all have those moments!
Bird photographers especially…