Pelicans

This shot is taken facing northwest, more or less.  Highway 2 right after the Missouri River bridge at Nebraska City is in the background.

Pelican Games

On Sunday, April 3, I went to Wagon Train Lake to see if Pelicans were there.  They were very playful, I've heard that some of it is part of their courtship ritual.  Just as I was leaving Pam and Larry pulled up.  It was fun to meet Larry and to see and talk with Pam again.

There are all sorts of crazy things going on in this group that you can see if you click on the photo.

There were tons of Pelicans at the lake on Sunday (see the group swimming in the background).  By Tuesday there were only about a dozen left!

Looks like the guy in the back was trying to bit the other one's butt!

 Cormorants

 Blue Winged Teal

Northern Shoveler with Pelican feet in the background

Pelican Series

Trip Home from KC

 King Fisher at Squaw Creek

 Northern Pintail

 Wild Turkeys

 Pelicans are still hanging out near Nebraska City

Double-crested Cormorants

More Shots of Pelicans

 I know this isn't the best shot, but I think the dark spot in this guy's gullet (?) is a fish.

 The Heron slowly approached the Pelicans.

Pelicans in Flight

Pam, Kris, and I went to Nebraska City (actually across the river into Iowa) to photograph Pelicans this morning.

Sunday on the way Home

As we headed home down Highway 34 towards Loveland, we saw some Big Horn Sheep, something we didn't get the chance to see in RMNP.  Then as we drove through Loveland by the lake we saw Pelicans!

Messing Around with Saturday's Photos

I've been told the bump on their bill has to do with mating season.  I guess if you're a Pelican a bump on the bill is attractive.

So on this last photo I changed the shot setting to daylight and it made a huge difference in the color tones.  I guess you kinda needed to see the photo before I changed it to see the difference, take my word for it, it really was quite dramatic!

Morning Pelicans & Regular Birds

Pam taught me that if you don't know what kind of bird it is just call it a "regular bird" (I think she learned that from Todd or Kyle when they were just little guys).  One would think I might be tired of photographing Pelicans but I love it and the practice is good.  So here we go again.

Isn't the morning sky gorgeous.  It was worth freezing my poor fingers!

This photo is kind of grainy but I love the light on this guy's wings.

Check out the Pelican directly below the guy in flight.  Morning exercises?

These are Double-crested Cormorants and they are hard to catch.  They are fast in flight and stay far away in the water.

 I don't know what kind of duck this is but I really liked the reflections in the water and the blue highlights.

Here's the regular bird.  This is a Red-winged Blackbird and the photo was taken at Holmes Lake.