Birds of Bear River MBR – American White Pelicans

I saw plenty of American White Pelicans (Pelecanus erythrorhynchos) earlier this week while spending two mornings at Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge (aka Bear River National Wildlife Refuge) in northern Utah.

American White Pelican flying over Bear River MBR

The pelicans have already gone into summer plumage, they have shed the carbuncles seen on their bills during breeding season and now instead of a pure white head they are showing a bit of darkness there.

American White Pelican in flight over a marsh

I saw the pelicans group feeding in the ponds and drainage canals on the refuge and flying in squadrons in the air. A couple of times the birds were flying in a line and they appeared to be following each others movements, it reminded me of the “Crack the Whip, a childhood game I used to play while skating.

American White Pelican fly by

Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge is an excellent location for finding and photographing American White Pelicans who have wing spans of over nine feet. I photographed these in between taking images of Western and Clark’s Grebes, more to come on the grebes soon!

Mia McPherson, OntheWingPhotography.com

Mia McPherson

Mia McPherson is a nature lover, wildlife watcher and an avian photographer. Mia first become serious about bird photography when she moved to Florida in 2004. Her recent move to the Salt Lake area of Utah was a great opportunity to continue observing their behavior and photographing them. With so many birds species there easily accessible it wasn’t long before she was hooked. By learning more about each species, she can anticipate their behaviour and create opportunities to obtain ever better images of those species.

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