Brown Pelican in breeding plumage, La Jolla Cove, La Jolla, California

The Brown Pelicans are in breeding plumage at La Jolla Cove (La Jolla, California) in late February when I visit for the San Diego Birding Festival. I was with Robert Wilson on the day I photographed this specimen. He is from Florida and he commented that he never sees Brown Pelicans with this much color. That inspired a bit of research this morning and, indeed, the Eastern and Western sub-species of Brown Pelican do have quite different breeding plumage, with the western birds being considerably brighter and more colorful than the eastern. I have never seen, that I remember, a breeding plumage eastern Brown…or maybe I just assumed that the birds I saw were not in full breeding plumage since they were so much duller than the ones I see in San Diego every February. Sony RX10iv at 495mm. Program mode. 1/1000th @ f7.1 @ ISO 100. Processed in Polarr and Apple Photos.