{"id":18102,"date":"2014-12-22T17:22:59","date_gmt":"2014-12-23T00:22:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=18102"},"modified":"2024-11-17T06:44:35","modified_gmt":"2024-11-17T12:44:35","slug":"preening-juvenile-brown-pelican-in-florida","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2014\/12\/22\/preening-juvenile-brown-pelican-in-florida\/","title":{"rendered":"Preening juvenile Brown Pelican in Florida"},"content":{"rendered":"

It rained most of the day here so I looked at a few Brown Pelican images taken in December in Florida where it was much sunnier in 2008.<\/p>\n

\"PreeningPreening juvenile Brown Pelican in Florida – Nikon D200, handheld, f8, 1\/350, ISO 160, Nikkor 80-400mm VR at 270mm, natural light
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

I miss seeing Brown Pelicans, we don’t have them here in Utah. They are so much fun to photograph whether they are preening, flying or diving from the air after prey. They capture their prey by diving from the air and splashing into the water head first. Makes me wonder how the juveniles learn that skill.<\/p>\n

I looked on eBird and see that a Brown Pelican was seen in July of 2004 near the causeway to Antelope Island State Park (not confirmed by the records committee), and in May of 2004 at Newcastle Reservoir in south western Utah. Prior to 2004 there were sightings in 1984, 1972, 1944 and 1934 shown on UtahBirds.org<\/a><\/span>.<\/p>\n

I guess I will keep on looking for them here. Who knows, I won’t rule out seeing one. Or head to the West Coast.<\/p>\n

Life is<\/em> good.<\/p>\n

Mia<\/p>\n

Click here<\/span><\/a> to see more of my Brown Pelican photos plus facts and information about this species.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It rained most of the day here so I looked at a few Brown Pelican images taken in December in Florida where it was much sunnier in 2008. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":137076,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":true,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[27,143,704,2000],"tags":[3994,5229,5132,4077,4067,4071,4158,4,706,3980,4019,3996,4193],"class_list":["post-18102","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-avian","category-brown-pelicans","category-fort-de-soto-county-park","category-pinellas-county-florida","tag-brown-pelican","tag-coast","tag-coastal","tag-gulf-of-mexico","tag-immature","tag-juvenile","tag-pelecanus-occidentalis","tag-pelican","tag-pelicans","tag-pinellas-county","tag-preening-2","tag-water","tag-young"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/brown-pelican-juvenile-mia-mcpherson-8832.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-4HY","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":11317,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2013\/11\/29\/juvenile-brown-pelican-portrait\/","url_meta":{"origin":18102,"position":0},"title":"Juvenile Brown Pelican portrait","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"November 29, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"I like Brown Pelicans and even though I don't see them here in Utah I have plenty of images on file that I took during the period of time that I lived in Florida.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Juvenile Brown Pelican vertical pano, Fort De Soto County Park, Pinellas County, Florida","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/brown-pelican-juvenile-vertical-pano-mia-mcpherson-8811.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1934,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2011\/02\/19\/brown-pelicans\/","url_meta":{"origin":18102,"position":1},"title":"Brown Pelicans – Feeding Behaviors and Identification","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"February 19, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"Brown Pelicans feed by diving head first into the water to trap fish in the pouches of their bills.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Brown Pelicans about to splash down, Fort De Soto County Park, Pinellas County, Florida","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/brown-pelicans-bottom-dive-mia-mcpherson-3711.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/brown-pelicans-bottom-dive-mia-mcpherson-3711.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/brown-pelicans-bottom-dive-mia-mcpherson-3711.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/brown-pelicans-bottom-dive-mia-mcpherson-3711.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":9927,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2013\/10\/21\/juvenile-brown-pelican-in-flight\/","url_meta":{"origin":18102,"position":2},"title":"Juvenile Brown Pelican In Flight","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"October 21, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"After posting an image of a American White Pelican lifting off two days ago I thought I should post an photo of a Brown Pelican today for comparison.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Juvenile Brown Pelican in flight, Fort De Soto County Park, Pinellas County, Florida","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/brown-pelican-juvenile-flying-mia-mcpherson-2853.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/brown-pelican-juvenile-flying-mia-mcpherson-2853.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/brown-pelican-juvenile-flying-mia-mcpherson-2853.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/brown-pelican-juvenile-flying-mia-mcpherson-2853.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":15273,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2014\/06\/25\/six-years-ago-today-pelicans-godwits-and-dowitchers\/","url_meta":{"origin":18102,"position":3},"title":"Six Years Ago Today – Pelicans, Godwits And Dowitchers","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"June 25, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Six years ago today I was sand crawling on the shore of the Gulf of Mexico at Fort De Soto's north beach photographing pelicans, godwits and dowitchers plus other birds.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Short-billed Dowitcher feeding on the shore of the Gulf of Mexico, Fort De Soto County Park, Pinellas County, Florida","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/short-billed-dowitcher-feeding-mia-mcpherson-4539.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/short-billed-dowitcher-feeding-mia-mcpherson-4539.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, 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Brown Pelican gliding over the Gulf of Mexico, Fort De Soto County Park, Pinellas County, Florida","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/brown-pelican-juvenile-gliding-mia-mcpherson-9129.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/brown-pelican-juvenile-gliding-mia-mcpherson-9129.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/brown-pelican-juvenile-gliding-mia-mcpherson-9129.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/brown-pelican-juvenile-gliding-mia-mcpherson-9129.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":4754,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2012\/04\/09\/adult-brown-pelican-in-flight\/","url_meta":{"origin":18102,"position":5},"title":"Adult Brown Pelican In Flight","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"April 9, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Brown Pelicans (Pelecanus occidentalis) were common year round along the Gulf coast when I lived in Florida. I would see them floating in the water, resting on sandbars and beaches, diving for prey and in flight.","rel":"","context":"In "Brown Pelicans"","block_context":{"text":"Brown Pelicans","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/pelicans\/brown-pelicans\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Adult Brown Pelican in flight, Fort De Soto County Park, Pinellas County, Florida","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/brown-pelican-flight-mia-mcpherson-8600.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/brown-pelican-flight-mia-mcpherson-8600.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/brown-pelican-flight-mia-mcpherson-8600.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/brown-pelican-flight-mia-mcpherson-8600.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\/18102","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=18102"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18102\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/137076"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18102"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18102"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18102"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}