{"id":83823,"date":"2021-04-09T05:13:07","date_gmt":"2021-04-09T11:13:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=83823"},"modified":"2025-09-28T12:22:45","modified_gmt":"2025-09-28T17:22:45","slug":"four-resting-american-white-pelicans","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2021\/04\/09\/four-resting-american-white-pelicans\/","title":{"rendered":"Four Resting American White Pelicans"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Four

Four resting American White Pelicans<\/p><\/div>\n

Four resting American White Pelicans \u2013 Nikon D500, f7.1, 1\/3200, ISO 500, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

Four days ago I had two opportunities to photograph American White Pelicans at the marshy wetlands of Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge<\/span><\/a> in northern Utah.<\/p>\n

My first opportunity occurred about halfway through the northern section of the auto tour loop where pelicans, gulls, and Great Egrets were feeding on fish where the water was low.<\/p>\n

I was focused on the Great Egrets because I don’t see them all that often when I heard the sounds of the wings of the pelicans slapping the water as they took off.<\/p>\n

The phrags to the east of me had hidden the approach of a small sedan and the forward motion of the sedan caused the flock of pelicans to lift off. I did take a few images of the pelicans in flight but the light angle wasn’t the best.<\/p>\n

Later on the west side of the auto tour loop I found four American White Pelicans resting near two Double-crested Cormorants out in shallow water.<\/p>\n

They were on the wrong side of my Jeep to photograph them so I stopped, turned off my engine, opened my door, and photographed them while using my hood to support my camera and lens.<\/p>\n

By remaining partially hidden behind my Jeep I was able to take a nice series of images of these large, white pelicans without disturbing them.<\/p>\n

I quite liked the resulting images of the resting pelicans plus the photos made up for the white pelicans that I didn’t get to photograph on my previous trip to the refuge on the last day of March.<\/p>\n

I’ll always<\/em> stop for American White Pelicans in great light.<\/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":"

Four days ago I had two opportunities to photograph American White Pelicans at the marshy wetlands of Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge in northern Utah.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":158361,"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":[3,124,27,1148,26],"tags":[4004,3966,4094,4154,4,706,4156,165,4095],"class_list":["post-83823","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-marsh","tag-pelecanus-erythrorhynchos","tag-pelican","tag-pelicans","tag-resting","tag-spring","tag-wetlands"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/american-white-pelicans-bearriver-mbr-mia-mcpherson-3879.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-lNZ","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":8420,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2013\/05\/24\/big-beautiful-american-white-pelicans\/","url_meta":{"origin":83823,"position":0},"title":"Big, Beautiful American White Pelicans","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"May 24, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Yesterday at Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge there were two American White Pelicans that were close enough to photograph as they floated on the Bear River, it was a cloudless morning so the river was a gorgeous blue which always sets off the whites of these big, beautiful birds.","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":"American White Pelican afloat on the Bear River, Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge, Box Elder County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/american-white-pelican-bear-river-mia-mcpherson-8745.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-bear-river-mia-mcpherson-8745.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/american-white-pelican-bear-river-mia-mcpherson-8745.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/american-white-pelican-bear-river-mia-mcpherson-8745.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":5146,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2012\/06\/07\/birds-of-bear-river-mbr-american-white-pelicans\/","url_meta":{"origin":83823,"position":1},"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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Pelicans","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/pelicans\/white-pelicans\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"American White Pelican showing the nearly 9 foot wingspan, Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge, Box Elder County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/american-white-pelican-flying-mia-mcpherson-9838.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/american-white-pelican-flying-mia-mcpherson-9838.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/american-white-pelican-flying-mia-mcpherson-9838.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/american-white-pelican-flying-mia-mcpherson-9838.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 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Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/american-white-pelican-pooping-mia-mcpherson-3269.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/american-white-pelican-pooping-mia-mcpherson-3269.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/american-white-pelican-pooping-mia-mcpherson-3269.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/american-white-pelican-pooping-mia-mcpherson-3269.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":40040,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2016\/06\/16\/american-white-pelican-flight-over-bear-river-mbr\/","url_meta":{"origin":83823,"position":4},"title":"American White Pelican Flight Over Bear River MBR","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"June 16, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"One of my favorite things is to see is squadrons of American White Pelicans wheeling in the sky high overhead circling until they are out of sight.","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":"American White Pelican flight over Bear River, Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge, Box Elder County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/american-white-pelican-flight-mia-mcpherson-7149.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/american-white-pelican-flight-mia-mcpherson-7149.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, 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