White Pelican

We were traveling and hiking yesterday (May 13) and my wife spotted these pelicans landing in a pond along the highway near Ellensburg. They became nervous when we both left the car for pictures and eventually flew away, but we managed to get some pictures of them on the water and in the air. I did not expect to see pelicans this far from the sea (Ellensburg is over a hundred miles east of Seattle and Puget Sound, the nearest salt water), but was happy for the opportunity to photograph them.

I knew someone would ask about the 'thing" on his beak, and Kim finally did. We had wondered about it ourselves, since all three of the birds we saw had it. The only information I could find said that the "flat round plate on the on the bill is seen in breeding season only." Can't imagine that a lady would be attracted to it, but apparently things are different with pelicans. I'm pretty certain that my wife would not be too happy if I grew a "flat round plate on my nose" even if it was during breeding season.

A description of the hike we were on can be found here with a lot of other pictures: ronaldhanko-orchidhunter.blogspot.com/2011/05/manastash-r...