{"id":8420,"date":"2013-05-24T04:30:21","date_gmt":"2013-05-24T10:30:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=8420"},"modified":"2024-11-24T03:20:34","modified_gmt":"2024-11-24T09:20:34","slug":"big-beautiful-american-white-pelicans","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2013\/05\/24\/big-beautiful-american-white-pelicans\/","title":{"rendered":"Big, Beautiful American White Pelicans"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"lazyload aligncenter wp-image-137329 size-full\" title=\"Adult American White Pelican\" src=\"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/american-white-pelican-mia-mcpherson-8779.jpg\" data-orig-src=\"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/american-white-pelican-mia-mcpherson-8779.jpg\" alt=\"Adult American White Pelican, Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge, Box Elder County, Utah\" width=\"850\" height=\"607\" srcset=\"data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns%3D%27http%3A%2F%2Fwww.w3.org%2F2000%2Fsvg%27%20width%3D%27850%27%20height%3D%27607%27%20viewBox%3D%270%200%20850%20607%27%3E%3Crect%20width%3D%27850%27%20height%3D%27607%27%20fill-opacity%3D%220%22%2F%3E%3C%2Fsvg%3E\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/american-white-pelican-mia-mcpherson-8779-200x143.jpg 200w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/american-white-pelican-mia-mcpherson-8779-250x179.jpg 250w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/american-white-pelican-mia-mcpherson-8779-300x214.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/american-white-pelican-mia-mcpherson-8779-400x286.jpg 400w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/american-white-pelican-mia-mcpherson-8779-600x428.jpg 600w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/american-white-pelican-mia-mcpherson-8779-768x548.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/american-white-pelican-mia-mcpherson-8779-800x571.jpg 800w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/american-white-pelican-mia-mcpherson-8779.jpg 850w\" data-sizes=\"auto\" data-orig-sizes=\"(max-width: 850px) 100vw, 850px\" \/><span style=\"color: #888888;\">Adult American White Pelican<\/span><\/p>\n<p>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.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"lazyload aligncenter wp-image-137337 size-full\" title=\"American White Pelican on the Bear River\" src=\"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/american-white-pelican-bear-river-mia-mcpherson-8745.jpg\" data-orig-src=\"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/american-white-pelican-bear-river-mia-mcpherson-8745.jpg\" alt=\"American White Pelican afloat on the Bear River, Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge, Box Elder County, Utah\" width=\"850\" height=\"607\" srcset=\"data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns%3D%27http%3A%2F%2Fwww.w3.org%2F2000%2Fsvg%27%20width%3D%27850%27%20height%3D%27607%27%20viewBox%3D%270%200%20850%20607%27%3E%3Crect%20width%3D%27850%27%20height%3D%27607%27%20fill-opacity%3D%220%22%2F%3E%3C%2Fsvg%3E\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/american-white-pelican-bear-river-mia-mcpherson-8745-200x143.jpg 200w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/american-white-pelican-bear-river-mia-mcpherson-8745-250x179.jpg 250w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/american-white-pelican-bear-river-mia-mcpherson-8745-300x214.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/american-white-pelican-bear-river-mia-mcpherson-8745-400x286.jpg 400w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/american-white-pelican-bear-river-mia-mcpherson-8745-600x428.jpg 600w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/american-white-pelican-bear-river-mia-mcpherson-8745-768x548.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/american-white-pelican-bear-river-mia-mcpherson-8745-800x571.jpg 800w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/american-white-pelican-bear-river-mia-mcpherson-8745.jpg 850w\" data-sizes=\"auto\" data-orig-sizes=\"(max-width: 850px) 100vw, 850px\" \/><span style=\"color: #888888;\">American White Pelican on the Bear River<\/span><\/p>\n<p>This pelican was sporting a long, shaggy &#8220;do&#8221; that would stand straight up as the wind blew. Photographing these large white birds can present exposure challenges, I tossed a few over exposed images into my delete bin but for the most part the series I took came out very well.<\/p>\n<p>American White Pelicans breed here in Utah and many nest on isolated islands in the Great Salt Lake, they often fly long distances to freshwater locations such as <a href=\"http:\/\/www.fws.gov\/refuge\/bear_river_migratory_bird_refuge\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge<\/span><\/a> to capture fish for their young as the Great Salt Lake near those islands\u00a0is too hyper saline to have fish.<\/p>\n<p>Happy Friday,<\/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","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>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. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":137337,"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":[4004,3966,4529,4005,4094,4154,4,706,3996,4095,4741],"class_list":["post-8420","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-great-salt-lake","tag-marsh","tag-pelecanus-erythrorhynchos","tag-pelican","tag-pelicans","tag-water","tag-wetlands","tag-white-pelicans"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/american-white-pelican-bear-river-mia-mcpherson-8745.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-2bO","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":115951,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2023\/09\/18\/american-white-pelican-and-golden-light\/","url_meta":{"origin":8420,"position":0},"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":117537,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2023\/10\/27\/fall-american-white-pelican-images-at-bear-river-mbr\/","url_meta":{"origin":8420,"position":1},"title":"Fall American White Pelican Images At Bear River MBR","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"October 27, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"On this fall morning, I'm sharing three American White Pelican images from Bear River MBR taken earlier this week and a bonus flock photo from last year.","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 the fall, Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge, Box Elder County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/american-white-pelican-in-fall-mia-mcpherson-5403.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/american-white-pelican-in-fall-mia-mcpherson-5403.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/american-white-pelican-in-fall-mia-mcpherson-5403.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/american-white-pelican-in-fall-mia-mcpherson-5403.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":8420,"position":2},"title":"Birds of Bear River MBR &#8211; 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 &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":"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, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/american-white-pelican-flight-mia-mcpherson-6197.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/american-white-pelican-flight-mia-mcpherson-6197.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":8420,"position":3},"title":"Nine Foot Wingspans &#8211; American White Pelicans","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"August 2, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Yesterday while on the auto tour route of Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge the birds that I saw in the highest numbers were American White Pelicans.","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 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 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":51779,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2018\/04\/23\/american-white-pelican-in-definitive-alternate-plumage-aka-breeding-plumage\/","url_meta":{"origin":8420,"position":4},"title":"American White Pelican in Definitive Alternate Plumage aka Breeding Plumage","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"April 23, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"Yesterday was my first opportunity this year to be able to take quality images of American White Pelicans in Definitive Alternate Plumage or as it is better known, breeding plumage.","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 with bill wide open, Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge, Box Elder County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/american-white-pelican-bill-wide-open-mia-mcpherson-1985.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-bill-wide-open-mia-mcpherson-1985.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/american-white-pelican-bill-wide-open-mia-mcpherson-1985.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/american-white-pelican-bill-wide-open-mia-mcpherson-1985.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":19825,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2015\/02\/08\/american-white-pelicans-in-the-spotlight\/","url_meta":{"origin":8420,"position":5},"title":"American White Pelicans In The Spotlight","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"February 8, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"So, since the temperatures have been so much warmer than normal I wouldn't be surprised to see American White Pelicans any day now.","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 the spotlight, Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge, Box Elder County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/american-white-pelican-spotlight-mia-mcpherson-0986.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/american-white-pelican-spotlight-mia-mcpherson-0986.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/american-white-pelican-spotlight-mia-mcpherson-0986.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/american-white-pelican-spotlight-mia-mcpherson-0986.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\/8420","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=8420"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8420\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/137337"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8420"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8420"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8420"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}