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10-DEC-2008

Nose-diving Pelican 30359

Brown Pelican (Pelecanus occidentalis)

A wonderful bird is the Pelican,
His bill can hold more than his belican.
He can take in his beak
Food enough for a week;
But I'm damned if I see how the helican.

~ Dixon Lanier Merritt
(often incorrectly attributed to Ogden Nash)



This species of pelican has a practice of diving for fish by plunging into the water from flight.
The image above is just one of my countless failures trying to photograph one doing that just as
its bill touches the water, but 12 days later I did by pure chance catch one at that exact moment...


Photographed along the Gulf coast near Port Lavaca, Texas, USA.

Canon EOS Digital Rebel XTi ,Canon EF 70-300mm f/4-5.6 IS USM
1/1000s f/5.6 at 300.0mm iso200 hide exif
Full EXIF Info
Date/Time10-Dec-2008 14:30:02
MakeCanon
ModelCanon EOS DIGITAL REBEL XTi
Flash UsedNo
Focal Length300 mm
Exposure Time1/1000 sec
Aperturef/5.6
ISO Equivalent200
Exposure Bias-0.33
White Balance
Metering Modematrix (5)
JPEG Quality
Exposure Programaperture priority (3)
Focus Distance

other sizes: small medium original auto