{"id":48431,"date":"2017-09-12T05:09:11","date_gmt":"2017-09-12T11:09:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=48431"},"modified":"2024-02-22T06:32:27","modified_gmt":"2024-02-22T13:32:27","slug":"american-white-pelican-dumping-a-load-in-flight","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2017\/09\/12\/american-white-pelican-dumping-a-load-in-flight\/","title":{"rendered":"American White Pelican Dumping a Load in Flight"},"content":{"rendered":"

Yesterday I shared a few of the wading birds I saw on my last trip up to Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge<\/span><\/a> and today I am sharing photos of an American White Pelican I photographed on the same day. I was waiting and watching for Forster’s Terns to fly by and a few pelicans took off from the north and flew in close enough to photograph in flight. A couple of the pelicans flew in small groups of three and four and a few flew by themselves. It is always hard to get all of these large white birds sharp in a group so a few times I opted to focus on the single birds because it is by far easier to get one bird sharp.<\/p>\n

\"AmericanAmerican White Pelican defecating while in flight – Nikon D500, f7.1, 1\/2500, ISO 320, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

When I focused on this bird I didn’t know I’d be photographing an American White Pelican dumping a load while flying over the marshes at the refuge with the Promontory Mountains in the background. This is a great example of why people should keep their mouths closed when these white pelicans fly directly over our heads though!<\/p>\n

\"AmericanAmerican White Pelican pooping while in flight – Nikon D500, f7.1, 1\/2500, ISO 320, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

I took five frames of this American White Pelican pooping in flight before it stopped relieving itself and continued its flight to the southeast. These aren’t spectacular photos but I always find pooping bird photos a bit funny and of course these images do document natural behavior.<\/p>\n

Bombs away!<\/p>\n

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

Mia<\/p>\n

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

When I focused on this bird I didn’t know I’d be photographing an American White Pelican dumping a load while flying over the marshes at the refuge with the Promontory Mountains in the background.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":121759,"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":false,"_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":[4004,3966,5135,4052,4122,4094,6084,4154,4,706,3917,4528,4095,6064],"class_list":["post-48431","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-defecating","tag-flight","tag-flying","tag-marsh","tag-natural-behavior","tag-pelecanus-erythrorhynchos","tag-pelican","tag-pelicans","tag-pooping","tag-promontory-mountains","tag-wetlands","tag-white-pelican"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/american-white-pelican-pooping-mia-mcpherson-3269.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-cB9","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":5146,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2012\/06\/07\/birds-of-bear-river-mbr-american-white-pelicans\/","url_meta":{"origin":48431,"position":0},"title":"Birds of Bear River MBR – American White 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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Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/american-white-pelican-flight-mia-mcpherson-8327.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-flight-mia-mcpherson-8327.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/american-white-pelican-flight-mia-mcpherson-8327.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/american-white-pelican-flight-mia-mcpherson-8327.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":9077,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2013\/08\/02\/nine-foot-wingspans-american-white-pelicans\/","url_meta":{"origin":48431,"position":3},"title":"Nine Foot Wingspans – American White Pelicans","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"August 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