The Brown Pelican is a comically elegant bird with an oversized bill, sinuous neck, and big, dark body. I captured this bird taking flight after feeding on fish in the Bolsa Chica Ecological Reserve waterway near Huntington Beach, California. On the Pacific Coast, Brown Pelican adults have red skin on their throats in the breeding season as you can see by this photo. On the Atlantic and Gulf Coasts, Brown Pelicans are slightly smaller and their throat skin is greenish black.
This adult Brown Pelican was afloat in the water at the Bolsa Chica Ecological Reserve in Huntington Beach California. I captured it just after it had finished feeding on a fish it had caught. The Brown Pelican is a comically elegant bird with an oversized bill, sinuous neck, and big, dark body. Brown Pelicans feed by plunging into the water, stunning small fish with the impact of their large bodies and scooping them up in their expandable throat pouches.
The Brown Pelican is a comically elegant bird with an oversized bill, sinuous neck, and big, dark body. I captured this bird in flight after feeding on fish in the Bolsa Chica Ecological Reserve waterway near Huntington Beach, California. On the Pacific Coast, Brown Pelican adults have red skin on their throats in the breeding season as you can see by this photo. On the Atlantic and Gulf Coasts, Brown Pelicans are slightly smaller and their throat skin is greenish black.
