Just a typical day at Newport Beach…
Flyover
Pelican Days
We took a quick, last minute trip to Southern California to visit our son’s family before Thanksgiving. We spent a couple days at Newport Beach, spending time each day at the beach and meeting up with the family for the evening. It was so relaxing to be back at one of our favorite spots! The weather was great, the beach not crowded, and we saw lots of beach birds. What was surprising to us as infrequent visitors was that the pelicans were on the beach, not just flying low over the water as we usually see them. We were closer to them than we ever can remember. One of the days we drove up to Huntington Beach, and as we walked on the pier, this fellow landed on the rooftop above us. Soon another joined him, and we had a great time pelican watching. I took so many photos that I not only had to change batteries, but ran out of room on my SD card!
Still There
My Christmas pelican is still at Watson Lake. Last week, I received a certificate from the Idaho Department of Fish and Game thanking me for reporting his tag and giving me some information about him/her (they don’t know the gender). Basically, they informed me that the pelican was too young to fly when banded in 2020 near Minidoka, Idaho. I’ve always seen pelicans in groups, but this one seems to be alone; I’m hoping friends fly in soon!
Christmas Day Outing
Christmas Day was quiet at our house with just the two of us, but around noon we took a walk at Watson Lake. There were many ducks, a very few cormorants, one heron, and one pelican. We were hoping to see some sandhill cranes, because we had spotted some flying over Willow Lake a few days before, but did not see any at the lake. We suspect they kept flying, heading south.
Almost immediately after we spotted the pelican, it took off, and I was able to see the tags on his wings (there is a band on his leg as well). I took the time today to report the tag number to the North American Bird Banding Program, which I think will let me know where the bird was tagged.
Here Come the Pelicans!
Here is another almost abstract image created by using intentional camera movement and slow shutter speed. Although it might look like I added a texture, this is almost straight out of camera. I find it so interesting the different effects that can be created this way.
Making Friends
There were some newcomers to the waterfront- at least new since the last time we visited!
I had seen (and photographed) pelicans flying over the Benicia Bridge before, but never actually saw any down at the water. On this visit, we saw them on the Martinez side and the Benicia side of the bridge. Fun!
melinda anderson photography 