Was It Something I Said?!

This past weekend I noticed a brown pelican that was calmly floating along in the salt marsh enjoying a pleasant afternoon. As I approached, it seemed to be giving me kind of a wary look and then proceeded to vacate the premises. I don’t believe I made any comments which could be construed as being rude, and normally the pelicans don’t care much about what’s going on around them. Sometimes I think a marching band could come through and they would just simply continue on fishing.

It can’t be that there was something about my appearance that it didn’t care for. The alligators seem to like me OK enough, you would think the pelicans would be happy to see me as well.

He was probably leaving anyway to go look for his friends. Yes, that must be it…

56 thoughts on “Was It Something I Said?!”

Ricky Simpson on January 24, 2013 at 1:41 pm said:

🙂

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- Phil Lanoue on January 25, 2013 at 4:40 pm said:
  
  Heh heh, thanks for looking Ricky!
  
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Katariina Partala on January 24, 2013 at 1:44 pm said:

Hahahahaha he looks so shy in the first pic!!! 😀 Maybe he had a bad hair day and didn’t want to be photographed..

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- Phil Lanoue on January 25, 2013 at 4:41 pm said:
  
  Ha! He does look shy in that first pic! Could be bad hair day. 🙂
  
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adinparadise on January 24, 2013 at 1:58 pm said:

He is so cute. Don’t take it personally, Phil. I’m sure he just had a prior engagement. 😀 Fabulous pics again.

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- Phil Lanoue on January 25, 2013 at 4:42 pm said:
  
  Yeah well, I guess he is sorta cute. Not as cute as an alligator, but cute. 🙂
  Likely he was just late meeting his friends. 😀
  Thanks Sylvia!
  
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  - adinparadise on January 25, 2013 at 5:46 pm said:
    
    So glad you’re feeling better about it, Phil. 😀
    
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    - Phil Lanoue on January 25, 2013 at 5:58 pm said:
      
      I have somehow managed to struggle along and I greatly appreciate your concern Sylvia. 😀
      
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Wyatt VanDePol on January 24, 2013 at 2:07 pm said:

Wow, I love the detail! Great shots!

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- Phil Lanoue on January 25, 2013 at 4:43 pm said:
  
  Thanks very much for checking these out Wyatt!
  
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Utasflow on January 24, 2013 at 2:08 pm said:

Gorgeous photos. Phil!

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- Phil Lanoue on January 25, 2013 at 4:43 pm said:
  
  I’m very glad you liked the pelican pics!
  
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einfachtilda on January 24, 2013 at 2:14 pm said:

So herrliche Fotos. Grandios!!!

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- Phil Lanoue on January 25, 2013 at 5:01 pm said:
  
  Ich bin sehr froh, dass du diese Fotos gern
  
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Sue on January 24, 2013 at 2:28 pm said:

Looks like he’s giving you the evil eye! Good pics!

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- Phil Lanoue on January 25, 2013 at 4:44 pm said:
  
  I don’t know what he’s got against me, I was nice to him!
  Thanks for looking Sue!
  
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janmasyn on January 24, 2013 at 2:47 pm said:

Great shots Phil.

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- Phil Lanoue on January 25, 2013 at 4:44 pm said:
  
  I appreciate you checking them out Jan.
  
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lylekrahn on January 24, 2013 at 4:00 pm said:

He probably knows your kind:)

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- Phil Lanoue on January 25, 2013 at 4:45 pm said:
  
  Yeah pesky wildlife photographers. He probably just left the marshwalk area where a bunch of annoying tourists were shoving cameras in his face. 😛
  
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Naomi Baltuck on January 24, 2013 at 4:15 pm said:

Hi Phil,
This is quite a capture!

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- Phil Lanoue on January 25, 2013 at 4:46 pm said:
  
  Thanks for looking and commenting Naomi!
  
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Inspired and pretty on January 24, 2013 at 5:16 pm said:

Wonderful captures, these photos are superb !

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- Phil Lanoue on January 25, 2013 at 4:46 pm said:
  
  I truly appreciate your kind words and thanks for looking!
  
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pixelspielerei on January 24, 2013 at 5:25 pm said:

So great pictures at all! Wow!

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- Phil Lanoue on January 25, 2013 at 4:46 pm said:
  
  Thanks, I’m happy you like these!
  
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petspeopleandlife on January 24, 2013 at 6:18 pm said:

This pelican has a band on its right leg. Wonder how many pelicans have been banded in the area that you are shooting these great scenes. Beautiful brown color of this pelican. I see that no one else mentioned the band. I thought for sure someone other than I saw that it is a banded bird. The brown pelican was endangered for quite a few years until it made a come back after DDT was banned. I think that pesticide was the main culprit for causing the thinning of the eggs leading to cracks in the eggs and thus killing the embroyo. That also happened to the American Eagle and lots of other birds as well.

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- Phil Lanoue on January 25, 2013 at 4:48 pm said:
  
  We see quite a few banded brown pelicans, more then any other bird. I rarely see a banded GBH or egret (other then Radar, you can look him up).
  I do have pics of a flying black skimmer with a transmitter attached to his leg.
  
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  - petspeopleandlife on January 26, 2013 at 1:48 am said:
    
    The black skimmer would be interesting to see with a transmitter on the leg. Thanks for the reply.
    
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    - Phil Lanoue on January 26, 2013 at 12:11 pm said:
      
      I’ll try to dig that one out of the files. If I remember correctly it was part of a study being conducted by a doctoral candidate from one of our state universities. She was excited at the time to see that I got photos of one of her ‘subjects’. 🙂
      
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Amy on January 24, 2013 at 6:20 pm said:

Thank you for bringing the close shot of the beautiful pelican to us!

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- Phil Lanoue on January 25, 2013 at 4:49 pm said:
  
  I’m very happy you enjoyed the pelican pics! 🙂
  
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jimbey on January 24, 2013 at 6:42 pm said:

The mystery is solved in the last shot. His hasty departure has nothing to do with you – he had to make an appointment with his parole officer. (He IS wearing an ankle bracelet. Probably stole someone’s fish).
As expected, great shots.

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- Phil Lanoue on January 25, 2013 at 4:53 pm said:
  
  Yes that must be it, he is wearing an ankle monitoring bracelet. He is no doubt on parole for stealing seafood dinners off of the plates of guests at the nearby waterfront dining establishments.
  Thanks I’m glad you liked these pelican pics!
  
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sallywoodphotography on January 24, 2013 at 6:48 pm said:

Cute story,,,, what an eye! I saw the band too!

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- Phil Lanoue on January 25, 2013 at 4:53 pm said:
  
  Thanks I’m glad you like these pelicna photos!
  We see quite a few banded pelicans, one of the few birds we do see banded.
  
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Gracie on January 24, 2013 at 8:57 pm said:

Brilliant shots as always, Phil! I love how you focused on the eyes on the first photo, it’s as if he is just in front of me with that questioning look.

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- Phil Lanoue on January 25, 2013 at 4:54 pm said:
  
  Thank you so much Gracie. Yes he sure is giving me a look!
  
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Bella Remy Photography on January 24, 2013 at 9:50 pm said:

Love how he keeps his eye on you. Wondering just what it was you were really up to. Fantastic lighting in these Phil.

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- Phil Lanoue on January 25, 2013 at 4:55 pm said:
  
  Thanks for checking these out Emily I’m glad you enjoyed the pelican photos!
  He sure is giving me the eye isn’t he?!
  
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crazytraintotinkytown on January 25, 2013 at 2:56 am said:

I love the clarity of your pics

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- Phil Lanoue on January 25, 2013 at 4:55 pm said:
  
  Thanks D, I appreciate you looking and commenting!
  
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roughseasinthemed on January 25, 2013 at 4:06 am said:

Beautiful bird. You weren’t wearing red were you? Or even orange? I wouldn’t have thought so going birdwatching/photographing. I’ve noticed wearing red has a really bad effect on normally friendly dogs.

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- Phil Lanoue on January 25, 2013 at 4:58 pm said:
  
  This is a juvie brown pelican, I kind of like the adults better but the juvies are cool.
  Funny you should mention orange coats though…just last week some guy showed up wearing a glowing radioactive bright orange jacket and kept scaring all the bird away.
  I was not wearing a bright color. 🙂
  
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Chillbrook on January 25, 2013 at 5:12 am said:

I love pelicans. The first time I saw one for real in Florida I was so taken aback by their size and the fact that these cute but strange birds were just sitting about the place. What else would they be doing? It was a strange sight for a Brit is what I’m trying to say I guess. I’m sure it’s absolutely nothing you said Phil.. 🙂

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- Phil Lanoue on January 25, 2013 at 4:59 pm said:
  
  We have several waterfront dining areas around here which are often close to boating marinas so there are often huge pelicans just sitting around looking cute. 🙂
  Thanks for looking and commenting!
  
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monisertel on January 25, 2013 at 1:36 pm said:

Dear Phil,
love the colors and details, amazing pictures!!!
Wish you a nice weekend,
moni

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- Phil Lanoue on January 25, 2013 at 5:00 pm said:
  
  Thank you very much moni I am very happy you liked these photos!
  Enjoy your weekend as well!
  
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Patrizia M. on January 25, 2013 at 6:22 pm said:

Splendide foto, sono una vera meraviglia!!
Ciao, Pat

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- Phil Lanoue on January 26, 2013 at 12:08 pm said:
  
  Grazie Pat!
  
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Darkhorse3010 on January 26, 2013 at 8:09 pm said:

Great photos, what camera settings are you running?

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- Phil Lanoue on January 27, 2013 at 1:34 pm said:
  
  Thanks, glad you liked ’em!
  For those I was at 1/1000 sec at 7.1 and 200 ISO and manual exposure.
  
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FeyGirl on January 27, 2013 at 12:37 pm said:

What gorgeous detail on this guy… I don’t often get close enough to them!

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- Phil Lanoue on January 27, 2013 at 1:35 pm said:
  
  Thanks so much I’m happy you like these pelican pics!
  The pelicans can be a bit odd around here at times. There will occasionally be one that I think would hop in your car if you invited him. 🙂
  
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Molly Argo on February 2, 2013 at 9:27 pm said:

I love the look in he eyes of Pelicans. And you captured it great!

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- Phil Lanoue on February 3, 2013 at 12:24 pm said:
  
  These guys are kind of goofy but fun to photograph. Thanks Molly!
  
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