Breeding plumage Brown Pelican, La Jolla CA.

I have a short list of “must get to” places when I am in San Diego for the San Diego Birding Festival each March. The cliffs at La Jolla are high on that list, and, if weather and time cooperate, are generally my first visit. Harbor Seals with pups at one end of the cliffs, Sea Lions (this year also with pups) at the other, and breeding plumage Brown Pelicans, Double-crested Cormorants, Brant’s Cormorant, a host of western gulls and a few terns, and generally a lot of ground Squirrels in between. It is a wildlife photographer’s dream. The birds can be quite close on the rocks the top of the cliffs…the Sea Lions are medium distance (except for the adolescent and pup nestled up in the shade of a bush right against the fence this year), and the seals are a good way away on Children’s Pool Beach (which is closed for the birthing season)…but all are close enough for some amazingly satisfying shots.

Like this shot of the Brown Pelican’s eye…need I say more. Sony HX400V at 1200mm equivalent field of view. Shutter preferred. 1/640th @ ISO 100 @ f6.3. Processed in Lightroom on my Surface Pro 3 tablet.