Ths Brown Pelican was setting in the Bolsa Chica Ecological Reserve waterway near Huntington Beach, California. Brown Pelicans live year-round in estuaries and coastal marine habitats along both the east and west coasts. When not feeding or nesting, they rest on sandbars, pilings, jetties, breakwaters, mangrove islets, and offshore rocks, as I took this photo.
The elegant Great Egret is a dazzling sight in many North American wetlands. I captured this gorgeous bird coming in for a landing in the water at the Bolsa Chica Ecological Reserve near Huntington Beach, California. Visit a pond or coastal marsh and look for an all-white bird—slightly smaller than a Great Blue Heron, with black legs and a yellow bill.
This American White Pelican is a winter visitor to the Bolsa Chica Ecological Reserve in Huntington Beach California. This behavior is commonly described as "sunbathing" or "wing-drying. They spend winters mainly on coastal waters, bays, and estuaries, or a little distance inland.