laura-nz's Favorites

This juvenile Pelican arrived with a group of six, and landed on the beach while the others landed close-by in the ocean. The beach was pretty crowded with Heermann's, Western and California Gulls, but the young Pelican found its spot and started an extensive grooming session. To me it's fascinating that Pelicans make such deliberate eye contact with other animals and humans, a bit of a stare-down. They are very calm and don't seem nervous or afraid. They are of course also really large birds with a really large bill. When this youngster was done grooming, it raised its wings and pushed itself up in the air on those powerful, large feet and legs, was air borne with one energetic wing flap, and joined the others in the water.