White Pelican In Flight. © Copyright 2019 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.
A white pelican in flight on a foggy Central Valley morning.
From time to time, as you may have realized if you have followed me for a while, I declare some bird to be my favorite. At various times the “favorite” has been the trumpeter swan, one or another type of egret, ibises, geese (snow? Ross’s?), sandhill cranes (they keep returning to the list), bald eagles, water ouzels, and others I am perhaps forgetting. OK, so I’m fickle! This year I’m starting to think that white pelicans may get the nod this year. For a long time I didn’t know about them. Then I recognized them but didn’t realize how common they are around here. Then I became more fascinated by their stand-offish manner, their lumbering flight, and their prehistoric quality.
As I photograph birds I gradually learn more about their behaviors, at least those that affect how I photograph them. I’ve learned of a few places where I can somewhat reliably find these birds on the ground, typically at a distance that is too great to photograph them well. But I’ve also learned that eventually they take flight, and I’ve figured out a few things about their likely trajectory, thus allowing me to place myself in position for a possible fly-over. That’s exactly what happened on this morning when, after watching them on the ground for some time, they took flight away from me (so as to take off into a slight headwind) and then circled back around to cross almost directly over my position.
G Dan Mitchell is a California photographer and visual opportunist. His book, “California’s Fall Color: A Photographer’s Guide to Autumn in the Sierra” is available from Heyday Books and Amazon.
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