Lost Birds Of The Desert

[TheNevadanStig]

Scouted out a new location today. It's an area paralleling the river that just went under a pretty massive restoration project. Over 30 miles of trails meandering around mostly the lower Truckee river. Weather was awful, but the area looked very promising. Spotted deer, a mink, signs of bear and wild horse, and loads of new bird species. Found some excellent spots for a blind if I ever decide to wake up that early. And best of all, never saw a single person.

Here's my favorite from the day. American White Pelican. I realize this is probably a pretty common sight to a lot here, but they are not common at all out here in the middle of the desert. I couldn't get over just how large it was. And how truly excellent his hairdo is.

084 by TheNevadanStig, on Flickr

118 by TheNevadanStig, on Flickr

125 by TheNevadanStig, on Flickr

135 by TheNevadanStig, on Flickr

141 by TheNevadanStig, on Flickr

162 by TheNevadanStig, on Flickr

Then I spotted this pair. I believe this is a breeding pair of Common Mergansers? It looks dead on, except for the fact they should be making babies about 5000 miles north of me.

218 by TheNevadanStig, on Flickr

 

[nzmacro]

Yes common for some I guess but here we have ......... zero Beautiful Pelican and didn't know about that bit on top of the beak, very unusual (seen from here at least) and nicely held on the whites Jason. Nice to see the last shots as well, so you are getting to see some fairly unique subjects in that river Jason. Yep keep going back to it and good news on them doing that area up. Wish I was there to see these.

All the best Jason and well taken.

Danny.

 

[sm4him]

Slightly more common in my area, but because we don't have ocean shorelines here, they tend to flock in certain spots on area lakes, and they are nearly impossible to get decent shots of without a boat, because they are almost always way out in the middle of the lake on small islands and reefs.
you've got some beautiful shots of them here.

Yes common for some I guess but here we have ......... zero Beautiful Pelican and didn't know about that bit on top of the beak, very unusual (seen from here at least) and nicely held on the whites Jason. Nice to see the last shots as well, so you are getting to see some fairly unique subjects in that river Jason. Yep keep going back to it and good news on them doing that area up. Wish I was there to see these.

All the best Jason and well taken.

Danny.

Well, I just learned something. I started to say that they don't ALL have those projections on their bills, but then realized that I didn't know WHY some have it and some don't; I thought maybe it was a deformity or something. The adult American White Pelican has these projections on their bills only during breeding season, then they go away and their bills look "normal" again. So now I know!

 

[nzmacro]

Slightly more common in my area, but because we don't have ocean shorelines here, they tend to flock in certain spots on area lakes, and they are nearly impossible to get decent shots of without a boat, because they are almost always way out in the middle of the lake on small islands and reefs.
you've got some beautiful shots of them here.

Yes common for some I guess but here we have ......... zero Beautiful Pelican and didn't know about that bit on top of the beak, very unusual (seen from here at least) and nicely held on the whites Jason. Nice to see the last shots as well, so you are getting to see some fairly unique subjects in that river Jason. Yep keep going back to it and good news on them doing that area up. Wish I was there to see these.

All the best Jason and well taken.

Danny.

Well, I just learned something. I started to say that they don't ALL have those projections on their bills, but then realized that I didn't know WHY some have it and some don't; I thought maybe it was a deformity or something. The adult American White Pelican has these projections on their bills only during breeding season, then they go away and their bills look "normal" again. So now I know!

Very interesting info thanks Sharon. That really struck me because I've never seen it on any Pelican shots before. Fascinating !!

Danny.

 

[Raj_55555]

Thanks for the info Sharon, I remember asking this question in another thread. Off to read more about it.
#1 &#2 are really awesome shots, super crisp image.

 

[DLeeT]

I posted some shots of White Pelicans on another thread when they were migrating though and they are indeed enormous, fascinating birds! And your shots are excellent. Lee

 

[LarryLomona]

Hey, Jason
Great shots.Like 084,125,125. Love the perspective in pic #125.
I saw a pair Common Mergansers last year. They where north of Lake Tahoe in June and she had 6 ducklings. Maybe they will nest there, you might go back in a month.
Larry