{"id":40322,"date":"2016-07-04T05:53:33","date_gmt":"2016-07-04T11:53:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=40322"},"modified":"2025-09-28T07:32:36","modified_gmt":"2025-09-28T12:32:36","slug":"american-white-pelican-in-summer-plumage","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2016\/07\/04\/american-white-pelican-in-summer-plumage\/","title":{"rendered":"American White Pelican in summer plumage"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"FluffyFluffy American White Pelican in summer plumage – Nikon D810, f8, 1\/3200, ISO 400, -0.7 EV, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

I wanted to share an image of an American White Pelican in summer plumage today because summer is upon us and today marks America’s Independence Day.<\/p>\n

Adult American White Pelicans have three plumage phases annually, nonbreeding (September through February), breeding (February through June) and summer (June through August). Those plumage phases are also known as, in the same order,\u00a0 Definitive Basic Plumage, Definitive Alternate Plumage and Supplemental Plumage.<\/p>\n

The summer plumage is easy to identify because the normally white crown and nape plumes are replaced with short medium to dark gray to black feathers. By then end of summer those dark feathers will be replaced with short white feathers on the crown and nape.<\/p>\n

This image was taken on my most recent trip to Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge<\/span><\/a> at the end of June. There are large numbers of American White Pelicans at the refuge right now.<\/p>\n

Why a pelican instead of a Bald Eagle on Independence Day? Well, it has the word “American” in its name, it is as simple as that.<\/p>\n

Happy 4th.<\/p>\n

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

Mia<\/p>\n

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

I wanted to share an image of an American White Pelican in summer plumage today because summer is upon us and today marks America’s Independence Day. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":158259,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_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":""},"categories":[3,124,27,1148,26],"tags":[4004,3966,4529,4154,4,706,5558,2315,4645,5258,3996],"class_list":["post-40322","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-white-pelicans","category-bear-river-migratory-bird-refuge","category-avian","category-box-elder-county-utah","category-utah","tag-adult","tag-american-white-pelican","tag-bear-river","tag-pelecanus-erythrorhynchos","tag-pelican","tag-pelicans","tag-river","tag-summer-3","tag-summer-plumage","tag-supplemental-plumage","tag-water"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/american-white-pelican-mia-mcpherson-9092.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-aum","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":40714,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2016\/07\/29\/an-extreme-variation-of-supplemental-plumage-in-an-american-white-pelican\/","url_meta":{"origin":40322,"position":0},"title":"An 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Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/american-white-pelican-dark-supplemental-plumage-mia-mcpherson-6833.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/american-white-pelican-dark-supplemental-plumage-mia-mcpherson-6833.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/american-white-pelican-dark-supplemental-plumage-mia-mcpherson-6833.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/american-white-pelican-dark-supplemental-plumage-mia-mcpherson-6833.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 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Pelicans","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"June 7, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge is an excellent location for finding and photographing American White Pelicans who have wing spans of over nine feet.","rel":"","context":"In "American White Pelicans"","block_context":{"text":"American White Pelicans","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/pelicans\/white-pelicans\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Nonbreeding plumage American White Pelican in flight over Bear River MBR, Box Elder County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/american-white-pelican-flight-mia-mcpherson-6197.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/american-white-pelican-flight-mia-mcpherson-6197.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, 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Pelicans","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/pelicans\/white-pelicans\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"American White Pelican portrait with a split horn, Salt Lake County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/american-white-pelican-adult-mia-mcpherson-2343.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/american-white-pelican-adult-mia-mcpherson-2343.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/american-white-pelican-adult-mia-mcpherson-2343.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/american-white-pelican-adult-mia-mcpherson-2343.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 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