{"id":86984,"date":"2021-05-06T04:34:55","date_gmt":"2021-05-06T10:34:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=86984"},"modified":"2024-10-21T06:25:23","modified_gmt":"2024-10-21T11:25:23","slug":"preening-american-white-pelican-optical-illusion","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2021\/05\/06\/preening-american-white-pelican-optical-illusion\/","title":{"rendered":"Preening American White Pelican Optical Illusion"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"PreeningPreening American White Pelican optical illusion \u2013 Nikon D500, f7.1, 1\/5000, ISO 500, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

I photographed this preening American White Pelican and dozens of others yesterday morning at Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge<\/span><\/a> from the auto tour route. I took hundreds of photos of the pelicans as they fed, rested, took off, landed and preened. This single American White Pelican photo contains an optical illusion that confused my brain when I first viewed it and confuses my brain still.<\/p>\n

Something didn’t look quite right when I viewed the pelican image on my monitor. The pelican is sharp, there are nice feather details, the water looks beautiful, have great eye contact and a nice head angle. The head looked odd to me though.<\/p>\n

Then as I viewed the image I tilted my head until it touched my left shoulder and magically everything looked “right” to my brain. That is until I straightened my neck again.<\/p>\n

\"PreeningPreening adult American White Pelican \u2013 Nikon D500, f7.1, 1\/5000, ISO500, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

The next image in the series of photos that I took of this preening American White Pelican gave me the clue that I needed to get my head wrapped around what I was seeing in the first image. This image shows the pelican straightening its neck while it preened.<\/p>\n

\"PreeningPreening American White Pelican optical illusion revealed – Arrows pointing to the pelican’s chin and top of head
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

The American White Pelican in the first photo has its head twisted to at such a degree that it is practically upside down. It is<\/em> upside down. The pelican’s chin appears to be the top of its head but the arrow in this image shows where the top of the pelican’s head actually is.<\/p>\n

I’ve got a stiff neck from trying to make sense of the head angle of the pelican in this image.<\/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":"

This single American White Pelican photo contains an optical illusion that confused my brain when I first viewed it and confuses my brain still.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":135871,"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":[4004,3966,4094,6017,4154,4,706,4019,165,3996,4095],"class_list":["post-86984","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-optical-illusion","tag-pelecanus-erythrorhynchos","tag-pelican","tag-pelicans","tag-preening-2","tag-spring","tag-water","tag-wetlands"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/american-white-pelican-preening-optical-illusion-mia-mcpherson-3537.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-mCY","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":726,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2010\/09\/05\/american-white-pelican-preening-session\/","url_meta":{"origin":86984,"position":0},"title":"American White Pelican Preening Session","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"September 5, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"Birds were scarce, the water level in the ponds was low so there were only a few shorebirds. On the way out of the refuge though we stopped to photograph some American White Pelicans and a few Double-crested Cormorants.","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 and Double-crested Cormorant scratching, 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-cormorant-double-scratch-mia-mcpherson-7917.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-cormorant-double-scratch-mia-mcpherson-7917.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 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":60840,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2019\/10\/16\/utahs-long-staying-rare-brown-pelican\/","url_meta":{"origin":86984,"position":2},"title":"Utah’s Long-staying Rare Brown Pelican","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"October 16, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"I photographed Utah's long-staying rare Brown Pelican again yesterday morning at Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge and as I took photos of it I worried about its future.","rel":"","context":"In "Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge"","block_context":{"text":"Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/locations\/utah\/bear-river-migratory-bird-refuge\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Vagrant Brown Pelican preening, Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge, Box Elder County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/brown-pelican-bear-river-mia-mcpherson-9741.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-bear-river-mia-mcpherson-9741.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/brown-pelican-bear-river-mia-mcpherson-9741.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/brown-pelican-bear-river-mia-mcpherson-9741.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":14517,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2014\/03\/07\/long-billed-birds-and-preening\/","url_meta":{"origin":86984,"position":3},"title":"Long billed Birds and Preening","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"March 7, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Preening in birds is essential for keeping their feathers clean, arranged correctly and for some birds it is a way to distribute oils from the uropygial gland which helps to keep the feathers clean and healthy.","rel":"","context":"In "American Oystercatchers"","block_context":{"text":"American Oystercatchers","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/shorebirds\/american-oystercatchers\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Long-billed Curlew preening at the shoreline of the Gulf of Mexico at Fort De Soto County Park, Florida","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/long-billed-curlew-preening-mia-mcpherson-4982.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/long-billed-curlew-preening-mia-mcpherson-4982.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 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":100893,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2022\/03\/17\/an-american-white-pelican-in-soft-morning-light\/","url_meta":{"origin":86984,"position":5},"title":"An American White Pelican In Soft Morning Light","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"March 17, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"Two mornings ago I photographed my first American White Pelican of the year in soft morning light at an urban park close to home.","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":"Preening American White Pelican on an urban pond, Salt Lake County, 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