{"id":100893,"date":"2022-03-17T05:13:01","date_gmt":"2022-03-17T11:13:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=100893"},"modified":"2023-10-04T05:49:00","modified_gmt":"2023-10-04T11:49:00","slug":"an-american-white-pelican-in-soft-morning-light","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2022\/03\/17\/an-american-white-pelican-in-soft-morning-light\/","title":{"rendered":"An American White Pelican In Soft Morning Light"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"lazyload aligncenter wp-image-100886 size-full\" title=\"American White Pelican in soft morning light\" src=\"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/american-white-pelican-pond-mia-mcpherson-2039.jpg\" data-orig-src=\"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/american-white-pelican-pond-mia-mcpherson-2039.jpg\" alt=\"American White Pelican in soft morning light, Salt Lake County, Utah\" width=\"950\" height=\"542\" srcset=\"data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns%3D%27http%3A%2F%2Fwww.w3.org%2F2000%2Fsvg%27%20width%3D%27950%27%20height%3D%27542%27%20viewBox%3D%270%200%20950%20542%27%3E%3Crect%20width%3D%27950%27%20height%3D%27542%27%20fill-opacity%3D%220%22%2F%3E%3C%2Fsvg%3E\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/american-white-pelican-pond-mia-mcpherson-2039-200x114.jpg 200w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/american-white-pelican-pond-mia-mcpherson-2039-250x143.jpg 250w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/american-white-pelican-pond-mia-mcpherson-2039-300x171.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/american-white-pelican-pond-mia-mcpherson-2039-400x228.jpg 400w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/american-white-pelican-pond-mia-mcpherson-2039-600x342.jpg 600w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/american-white-pelican-pond-mia-mcpherson-2039-768x438.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/american-white-pelican-pond-mia-mcpherson-2039-800x456.jpg 800w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/american-white-pelican-pond-mia-mcpherson-2039.jpg 950w\" data-sizes=\"auto\" data-orig-sizes=\"(max-width: 950px) 100vw, 950px\" \/><span style=\"color: #808080;\">American White Pelican in soft morning light \u2013 Nikon D500, tripod mounted, f8, 1\/640, ISO 500, +0.7 EV, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n<div class=\"flex flex-grow flex-col gap-3 max-w-full\">\n<div class=\"min-h-[20px] flex flex-col items-start gap-3 whitespace-pre-wrap break-words overflow-x-auto\">\n<div class=\"markdown prose w-full break-words dark:prose-invert light\">\n<p>Two mornings ago, I photographed my first American White Pelican of the year in the soft morning light at an urban park close to home. The soft light seemed to make the pelican glow as it floated on the water&#8217;s surface. The air was cool, and a slight breeze lifted a few of the pelican&#8217;s feathers.<\/p>\n<p>Even though this pond is small and located in an urban area, American White Pelicans can find enough fish to keep them hanging around for a bit. They won&#8217;t nest at the pond, but during the spring migration, they do stop by.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"lazyload aligncenter wp-image-100887 size-full\" title=\"Preening American White Pelican on an urban pond\" src=\"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/american-white-pelican-pond-mia-mcpherson-2057.jpg\" data-orig-src=\"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/american-white-pelican-pond-mia-mcpherson-2057.jpg\" alt=\"Preening American White Pelican on an urban pond, Salt Lake County, Utah\" width=\"900\" height=\"643\" srcset=\"data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns%3D%27http%3A%2F%2Fwww.w3.org%2F2000%2Fsvg%27%20width%3D%27900%27%20height%3D%27643%27%20viewBox%3D%270%200%20900%20643%27%3E%3Crect%20width%3D%27900%27%20height%3D%27643%27%20fill-opacity%3D%220%22%2F%3E%3C%2Fsvg%3E\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/american-white-pelican-pond-mia-mcpherson-2057-200x143.jpg 200w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/american-white-pelican-pond-mia-mcpherson-2057-250x179.jpg 250w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/american-white-pelican-pond-mia-mcpherson-2057-300x214.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/american-white-pelican-pond-mia-mcpherson-2057-400x286.jpg 400w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/american-white-pelican-pond-mia-mcpherson-2057-600x429.jpg 600w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/american-white-pelican-pond-mia-mcpherson-2057-768x549.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/american-white-pelican-pond-mia-mcpherson-2057-800x572.jpg 800w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/american-white-pelican-pond-mia-mcpherson-2057.jpg 900w\" data-sizes=\"auto\" data-orig-sizes=\"(max-width: 900px) 100vw, 900px\" \/><span style=\"color: #808080;\">Preening American White Pelican on an urban pond \u2013 Nikon D500, tripod mounted, f8, 1\/500, ISO 500, +0.7 EV, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n<p>I watched and photographed the pelican preening out in the middle of the pond for a little while before a bunch of <a title=\"It Is Great-tailed Grackle Breeding Season\" href=\"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2022\/03\/16\/it-is-great-tailed-grackle-breeding-season\/\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">displaying male grackles<\/span><\/a> grabbed my attention.<\/p>\n<p>I have a fondness for <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/American_white_pelican\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">American White Pelicans<\/span><\/a> and can&#8217;t resist photographing them wherever I find them. Truthfully, though, I can&#8217;t resist photographing any bird I come across, even those that others walk by, drive past, and ignore.<\/p>\n<p>I sincerely hope that the pelicans here in northern Utah have a successful breeding season this year, but I do worry about it. They nest on islands in the Great Salt Lake, and now that the lake&#8217;s water level is so low that there are land bridges, predators can easily disturb them at their nests and prey on their young.<\/p>\n<p>Life <em>is<\/em> good.<\/p>\n<p>Mia<\/p>\n<p>Click <a href=\"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/american-white-pelican-images\/\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">here<\/span><\/a> to see more of my American White Pelican photos plus facts and information about this species.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Two mornings ago I photographed my first American White Pelican of the year in soft morning light at an urban park close to home.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":100887,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,27,709,26],"tags":[4004,3966,4099,10698,4154,4,706,1984,4019,7657,8018,3996,373],"class_list":["post-100893","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-white-pelicans","category-avian","category-salt-lake-county-utah","category-utah","tag-adult","tag-american-white-pelican","tag-morning-light","tag-park","tag-pelecanus-erythrorhynchos","tag-pelican","tag-pelicans","tag-pond","tag-preening-2","tag-soft","tag-urban","tag-water","tag-winter"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/american-white-pelican-pond-mia-mcpherson-2057.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-qfj","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":112311,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2023\/04\/16\/spring-american-white-pelican-photos\/","url_meta":{"origin":100893,"position":0},"title":"Spring American White Pelican Photos","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"April 16, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"This collection of American White Pelican photos were taken starting the 6th of April. Some of the images show the snow from a snowstorm earlier this month.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;American White Pelicans&quot;","block_context":{"text":"American White Pelicans","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/pelicans\/white-pelicans\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"American White Pelican in a morning mist, Salt Lake County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/american-white-pelican-adult-mist-mia-mcpherson-0481.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/american-white-pelican-adult-mist-mia-mcpherson-0481.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/american-white-pelican-adult-mist-mia-mcpherson-0481.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/american-white-pelican-adult-mist-mia-mcpherson-0481.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":101504,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2022\/04\/10\/american-white-pelican-in-low-light\/","url_meta":{"origin":100893,"position":1},"title":"American White Pelican In Low Light","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"April 10, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"I am enjoying seeing the birds that have returned to breed in Utah including this American White Pelican I photographed in low light two days ago at a local pond.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;American White Pelicans&quot;","block_context":{"text":"American White Pelicans","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/pelicans\/white-pelicans\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Adult American White Pelican in low light, Salt Lake County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/american-white-pelican-early-morning-mia-mcpherson-3848.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/american-white-pelican-early-morning-mia-mcpherson-3848.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/american-white-pelican-early-morning-mia-mcpherson-3848.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/american-white-pelican-early-morning-mia-mcpherson-3848.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":100969,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2022\/03\/22\/american-white-pelican-in-bright-morning-light\/","url_meta":{"origin":100893,"position":2},"title":"American White Pelican In Bright Morning Light","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"March 22, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"I have a lot going on right now so this morning I'm only sharing one image of an adult American White Pelican in bright morning light taken five days ago.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;American White Pelicans&quot;","block_context":{"text":"American White Pelicans","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/pelicans\/white-pelicans\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Adult American White Pelican in bright morning light, Salt Lake County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/american-white-pelican-mia-mcpherson-3479.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/american-white-pelican-mia-mcpherson-3479.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/american-white-pelican-mia-mcpherson-3479.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/american-white-pelican-mia-mcpherson-3479.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":115951,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2023\/09\/18\/american-white-pelican-and-golden-light\/","url_meta":{"origin":100893,"position":3},"title":"American White Pelican And Golden Light","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"September 18, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"Yesterday morning, at Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge, the first bird I photographed was an adult American White Pelican in early morning golden light.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;American White Pelicans&quot;","block_context":{"text":"American White Pelicans","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/pelicans\/white-pelicans\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"American White Pelican facing golden morning light, Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge, Box Elder County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/american-white-pelican-adult-golden-light-mia-mcpherson-0496.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/american-white-pelican-adult-golden-light-mia-mcpherson-0496.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/american-white-pelican-adult-golden-light-mia-mcpherson-0496.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/american-white-pelican-adult-golden-light-mia-mcpherson-0496.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":137309,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2024\/11\/23\/pink-hour-kerr-lock-and-dam-american-white-pelican-photos\/","url_meta":{"origin":100893,"position":4},"title":"Pink Hour: Kerr Lock and Dam American White Pelican Photos","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"November 23, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"Yesterday, I visited the Robert S. Kerr Lock and Dam in Le Flore County, Oklahoma, where one of the first birds I photographed was this American White Pelican.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;American White Pelicans&quot;","block_context":{"text":"American White Pelicans","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/pelicans\/white-pelicans\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"American White Pelican preening on the Arkansas River at dawn, Robert S. Kerr Lock and Dam, Le Flore County, Oklahoma","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/american-white-pelican-kerr-dam-mia-mcpherson-9750.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/american-white-pelican-kerr-dam-mia-mcpherson-9750.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/american-white-pelican-kerr-dam-mia-mcpherson-9750.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/american-white-pelican-kerr-dam-mia-mcpherson-9750.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":56166,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2019\/02\/16\/photographing-my-first-of-the-year-american-white-pelicans\/","url_meta":{"origin":100893,"position":5},"title":"Photographing My First of the Year American White Pelicans","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"February 16, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"I drove up to Farmington Bay WMA yesterday morning because it looked like there was going to be some nice light and because the forecast for the next week looks rather dismal for bird photography and I'm so very glad I went because I was able to photograph my first\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;American White Pelicans&quot;","block_context":{"text":"American White Pelicans","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/pelicans\/white-pelicans\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"American White Pelican and Wasatch Mountain reflections, Farmington Bay WMA, Davis County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/american-white-pelican-mountain-reflections-mia-mcpherson-3090.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/american-white-pelican-mountain-reflections-mia-mcpherson-3090.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/american-white-pelican-mountain-reflections-mia-mcpherson-3090.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/american-white-pelican-mountain-reflections-mia-mcpherson-3090.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/100893","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=100893"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/100893\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/100887"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=100893"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=100893"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=100893"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}