Brown Pelican

Brown Pelican -- Martin Luther King, Jr. Regional Shoreline, Oakland, CA
Canon EOS Rebel T5i, EF-S 55-250mm f/4.0-5,6 IS II, ISO: 250, f/5.6, 1/2000s

Pelican on a Pole

Brown Pelican -- Oakland/Alameda Estuary, CA
Canon EOS Rebel T5i, EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS II USM, ISO: 1600, f/5.6, 1/1600s

Birds like sitting on the poles in the estuary near Doolittle Drive.  It makes sense for some of the smaller birds, but I don't see how pelicans can find it to be comfortable.  To each his own, I guess.

Photo selection inspired by Geogypsy's Foto Friday Fun 156, image #2345.

Pelican on a Piling

Brown Pelican -- Martin Luther King, Jr. Regional Shoreline, Oakland, CA
Canon EOS Rebel T5i, EF-S 55-250mm f/4.0-5.6 IS II, 1.1600s, f/5.6, ISO: 200

I saw this pelican on my drive home a few days ago so I stopped for a few pictures.  Watching these big birds fish the estuary never gets dull.  This pelican was hanging out with another pelican who was snoozing on an adjacent piling.  It's got to be tough sleeping on a pole.

Brown Pelican -- Martin Luther King, Jr. Regional Shoreline, Oakland, CA
Canon EOS Rebel T5i, EF-S 55-250mm f/4.0-5.6 IS II, 1.1000s, f/5.6, ISO: 100

Brown Pelican

Brown Pelican -- Crab Cove, Alameda, CA
Canon PowerShot SX40 HS, 1/800s, f/5. ISO:100

If you have any experience trying to shoot birds in flight with a point-and-shoot camera, I think you'll appreciate what an incredible shot this is.  So many things had to go right for this to come out as well as it did, none of which I had much control over and not the least of which was a pelican had to fly almost right over my head at a very low altitude.

For a while there this was probably my best wildlife photograph.  This still might be my best pelican image.  Many of the other top contenders were also taken with my old SX40.

For the record, this is the first photo of mine actually improved by blogger's image auto-tuning.  The tones in the sky are better than the original.  I still wish they'd mind their own business.