2305_4916 American White Pelicans

wild prairie man
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2305_4916 American White Pelicans
2305_4916 American White Pelicans

I can't help it - here's the great limerick about pelicans by Ogden Nash:

A wonderful bird is a pelican,
His bill will hold more than his belican.
He can take in his beak
Food enough for a week;
But I'm damned if I see how the helican.

What is the lead bird doing here? Using its bill as a caliper to measure the fullness of its belly? Or maybe just taking care of an itch? Preening while flying is not a good idea, akin to eating food with chopsticks while driving, but there are no rules on the flyways and what this bird loses in aerodynamics may well be atoned for in comfort.

Alas! I will never know what's going on here, but this is something I had never seen before, and it seems so odd that I had to share. This ends my bird shot series from a brief but productive few days in Alberta; tomorrow I will begin a new set of images made closer to home. In theory one may return from a road trip with fresh eyes for the familiar. We'll see if that's the case.

Photographed at Frank Lake, near High River, Alberta (Canada). Don't use this image on websites, blogs, or other media without explicit permission ©2023 James R. Page - all rights reserved.

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Taken on: May 31, 2023
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Camera: Nikon D850, f/8.0, 1/3200 sec, 700mm, ISO 500 (more info) (hide info)
Camera: Nikon D850
Lens: 500.0 mm f/5.6
Aperture: f/8.0
Exposure Time: 1/3200 sec
Focal Length: 700mm
ISO: 500
Exposure Bias: -1/3 EV
Flash: No Flash
Exposure Program: Manual
Exposure Mode: Manual
Metering Mode: Multi-segment
White Balance: Auto
Color Space: sRGB
Software: Adobe Photoshop 22.5 (Macintosh)
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