Week 21 – American White Pelican

This is one of those weeks where I really struggled to chose a “best photo”. I spent Memorial Day weekend with some friends camping on Sheep Creek Reservoir just on the Nevada side of the Duck Valley Indian Reservation. This reservoir features some gorgeous wetland habitat that is ripe for waterbirds and shorebirds, and I was chomping at the bit to see all of these wetland associated birds I miss seeing in Boise. The area is probably most notable for it’s high nesting density of White-faced Ibis which feed in the flood irrigated fields during the day before returning to the relative safety of the reservoirs at night. I will be sharing some photos from this trip over the next week, but wanted to start out with what I thought was the best. Save the best for first? Sure, why not.

American White Pelican. Photograph by Neil Paprocki.

American White Pelican’s share the crown of North America’s largest bird with the California Condor. Both sport an impressive 9-foot wingspan while gliding effortlessly through the skies. During the breeding season, adults grow a fibrous knob on their upper mandible which is subsequently lost after egg laying. The bird pictured above has already lost it’s knob and is sporting some grey on it’s crown and nape. This means it is past the egg laying stage of breeding or is a non-breeding adult. I love the contrast of their pure white body and wing feathers with the jet black of their primary and secondary flight feathers.

All of the previous 52-week blog posts can be found at the Wild Lens blog or on Flickr.