Elkhorn Slough Brown Pelicans

Some of the nicer images that I got of these big guys while at Elkhorn Slough. These guys are so big, and so used to humans, that the boat often got me too close for the 500mm. Whatchya gonna do?

These were all taken with my 20D and 500mm f/4L IS - hand held. All EXIF data is intact as usual.

Anyhow, C&C is always appreciated.

= Ed =

1) They are not quite into full breeding plumage yet.

wowzers i like the under the radar shot

Fantastic shots! great captions as well
They sure are interesting animals to watch.

Wonderful set Ed, one of my favorite big birds. If I was going to be a bird, this is the one I'd want to be.

Great series Ed, the first portrait is fantastic

Just amazing shots Ed, love them all, but that low flying one is really nice! steve

Fantastic Shots!!
Are these Pelicans can only be seen through boat. I am planning to visit this place this comming weekend. I also heard there's wide variety of species here.

Absolutely wonderful shots of this funny looking bird - Excellent work!

mista tuan wrote in post #4281266
wowzers i like the under the radar shot

Thanks Mista. Glad you enjoyed them.

Canon_For_Life wrote in post #4281489
Fantastic shots! great captions as well
They sure are interesting animals to watch.

Mike. I appreciate the comments, and yes, they are a very interesting bird to watch - especially when they are fishing. I only have a couple of shots of that behavior, but they not quite up to standards.

canonloader wrote in post #4281518
Wonderful set Ed, one of my favorite big birds. If I was going to be a bird, this is the one I'd want to be.

Thanks Mitch! You could do worse as a bird - heck they come equipped with their own lunch box!

sugarzebra wrote in post #4281742
Great series Ed, the first portrait is fantastic

Thanks for the kind words Scott. I'm definitely partial to that one as well.

ajosteve wrote in post #4281960
Just amazing shots Ed, love them all, but that low flying one is really nice! steve

Thanks Steve. They will glide that low for long periods. From what little I know of aviation, they are pretty much in something I believe is called "ground effect" which gives them more lift.

enjoy wrote in post #4282096
Fantastic Shots!!
Are these Pelicans can only be seen through boat. I am planning to visit this place this comming weekend. I also heard there's wide variety of species here.

Thanks Enjoy! You certainly can see the Pelicans without getting on a boat. And yes, there are many species of birds all around the Slough. I will probably be posting more images of the smaller birds from there as I have time to process them. Additionally, when you first turn into Elkhorn Slough, and you look to the right and see that first bit of harbor where some boats are docked - there is usually a raft of Sea Otters sitting right there. The Sea Otters are also all over the Slough as well. I posted some images of various Sea Otters here:
https://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthre​ad.php?t=403684

downywp wrote in post #4282133
Absolutely wonderful shots of this funny looking bird - Excellent work!

Thanks for stopping in and looking Downy. I'm glad you liked them.

= Ed =

Great series, Ed. I was at Elkhorn just a few weeks earlier - great place.

What version of drop shadow frame are you using?

Great shots, all of them. I especially like #5. They are definitely very unusual looking birds.

Superb photos Ed.....any one of them I would hang on my wall proudly. Wish we had them here.

avwh wrote in post #4283937
Great series, Ed. I was at Elkhorn just a few weeks earlier - great place.

What version of drop shadow frame are you using?

Thanks Allen. Actually, I just got a color close to the bkg color for this board, and filled a bacground layer with that that is larger than the image, and then I just used PS's Layer Styles/Drop Shadow. Nothing fancy. The only problem is, when I set up my action for that, I was still using AdobeRGB as my working color space. I've since switched to Pro Photo, and I need to get that color again as it looks to be just a little bit off. When I first did this, it just looked like it was drop shadowed directly on the forum page.

gymell wrote in post #4283966
Great shots, all of them. I especially like #5. They are definitely very unusual looking birds.

Thanks for the kind words Liz. I'd call them "queer ducks" but they are pelicans

Flo wrote in post #4283978
Superb photos Ed.....any one of them I would hang on my wall proudly. Wish we had them here.

Thanks Flo. We don't have much room on the walls left at the moment, and I refuse to take down any of the Manglesen images that we have up!

= Ed =

Beautiful Ed...simply beautiful!
...tom

What a terrific series!
Karen