Tuesday, August 22, 2017

a feeding Pelican

Yellowstone is a pretty good place to see White Pelicans.  I'm not sure if they breed in the park or just forage there and then commute out but most trips there I've seen them.

I assumed this was a one-year-old bird based on the dark feathers on the back of the head, but a quick review of Sibley shows all adults have that mid-summer.

When actively feeding it seemed to adopt an (obese ungainly) Green Heron-like crouch as it swam slowly.
 It would lunge forward,
 and bury pretty much its whole face in the water before more slowly extracting its prey

I never got a glimpse of what it was catching, but they went down pretty quickly...

No comments: