Hanging Out for the Day

by Charlene Adler

Title

Hanging Out for the Day

Artist

Charlene Adler

Medium

Photograph - Photography

Description

The Brown Pelican on South Padre Island, Texas is just hanging out watching the boats float in and out at the pier, They large birds look clumsy but are graceful on the water and in the air. Photograph taken on South Padre Island, Texas
The Brown Pelican is the official state bird of Louisiana.

The brown pelican (Pelecanus occidentalis) is a bird of the pelican family, Pelecanidae, one of three species found in the Americas and one of two that feed by diving into water. It is found on the Atlantic Coast from New Jersey to the mouth of the Amazon River, and along the Pacific Coast from British Columbia to northern Chile, including the Galapagos Islands. The nominate subspecies in its breeding plumage has a white head with a yellowish wash on the crown. The nape and neck are dark maroon–brown. The upper sides of the neck have white lines along the base of the gular pouch, and the lower fore neck has a pale yellowish patch. The male and female are similar, but the female is slightly smaller. The nonbreeding adult has a white head and neck. The pink skin around the eyes becomes dull and gray in the nonbreeding season. It lacks any red hue, and the pouch is strongly olivaceous ochre-tinged and the legs are olivaceous gray to blackish-gray.

The brown pelican mainly feeds on fish, but occasionally eats amphibians, crustaceans, and the eggs and nestlings of birds

Uploaded

February 24th, 2022

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