Besides seals and sea lions, you go to La Jolla in March for breeding plumage Brown Pelicans. I have never been sure what part of the Brown Pelican is brown. Certainly the predominate color, in all seasons, to my eye is a lovely silver gray. And in breeding plumage the bird is spectacular, with its cream or white cap, rich brown neck (there it is, but I can’t believe they named the bird after its neck), and vivid red and rust pouch skin boarded in pure white, all set off by the silver plumage of the body. And that does not cover the pink eyelid, and the old ivory tooth on the end of the bill. This is not a brown bird. (So, okay, if you catch one standing up tall, you can see, under the silver mantle of the wings, the brown lower belly and under tail…but, come on folks, this should be the Silver Pelican at the very least.)

And, once you get by the colors, the variety of textures in the feathers is just as interesting. You have fur like feathers on the head and neck, fine silver feathers like course shaggy hair over the upper chest and wings, and only a few conventional feathers showing in the spread wings and tail.

Spectacular bird.

And their habit of nesting in colonies, and traveling in squads hugging the crests of waves and riding thermals along cliffs…their plunge diving as they feed…all very hard to ignore. This is one great bird.

All these shots with the Canon SX40HS, in Program with iContrast and –1/3EV exposure compensation. 1) and 4) at 1680mm (840mm optical equivalent field of view plus 2x digital tel-extender). 2) and 3) at 840mm optical.

Processed in Lightroom for intensity, clarity, and sharpness.

And for the Sunday thought: people who live with Brown Pelicans year round, and know them in all seasons, are often surprised, in my experience, when they see a close up of one in breeding plumage. Even when they see them in flight, which is always a miracle of grace, they don’t look closely, and they don’t marvel at the way these huge birds ride the wind. They are just pelicans. Brown Pelicans. “We have lots of those in California.” (Or Florida, or Texas, or where ever.)

Me, every time I see them, which is not so often as I would like, I have to stand and stare. I can watch them riding up the beach and over the waves for hours in any season, just to see how they do it. And, in breeding plumage? To be honest, I sometimes don’t get up to La Jolla on my March trip to San Diego, even though it is only 20 minutes from the hotel where I stay, and even though I have been there often enough to know what I am missing, and, this morning, I am wondering why. I would hate to think I am loosing any of my ability to see these birds as they are…full of glory…and shouting glory to anyone with eyes to see and spiritual ears to hear. I would hate to think I am getting full or fat or spiritually lazy or whatever you get when you think you have seen enough Brown Pelicans in breeding plumage.

Never enough please.