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brown pelican

Pelecanus occidentalis

Published on Project Noah
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26.5206, -80.035

Field Notes

Notes:

i love watching these guys dive for fish they are such good flyers. its to common to see a new fledgling go in for his first dive and accidentally break his neck. not the case for this guy, thank goodness.

Species ID Suggestions

Comments (18)
Mona Pirih
Very cool !! Congratulations Jamie !!
Tom15
Congrats Jamie! This is a great action photo well deserving of SOTD!
jamiewgoodspeed
I don't know how they would decide that maybe its instinctive… this guy dove from about 30 feet.
LaurenZarate
Wonderful pictures. So sad that babies can die when learning to dive. How do they know how deep their prey is? Water depth is so deceptive from above. Congratulations on SOTD!
bayucca
Love these guys :-).... Congrats! http://www.projectnoah.org/spottings/16970832 http://www.projectnoah.org/spottings/17206330
KarenL
Congrats Jamie - you've done it again! A brown pelican makes a spectacular dive in our Spotting of the Day! Brown pelicans can dive from as high as one hundred feet - the deeper the meal the higher the dive! Facevook: https://upload.facebook.com/projectnoah/photos/a.10150595289465603.674700.10150120463815603/10154082671795603/?type=1&stream_ref=10 Twitter: https://twitter.com/projectnoah/status/460973464024010752
jamiewgoodspeed
its very interesting to watch them dive especially if you can "freeze time" and see exactly how they do this.
EmilieWatchesTrees
Beautiful shot. I always forget about how difficult it is for young animals to learn survival skills--the survivors make it look so easy and instinctive.
jamiewgoodspeed
thanks I'm always on the look out to get one of these guys in a dive.
Ava T-B
You really caught the moment!

Spotted for Missions

Mission
Birds of the Southeast U.S.
Mission
2014 Best Wildlife Photo
Birds seen in Florida
Photographed
PublishedApril 27, 2014

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