Liftoff!
This morning I was surprised to see a brown pelican fishing in the marsh pond. Must mean colder weather is on the way, which will surely result in our last remaining pair of spoonbills leaving us any day now to make their way south for the winter.
Phil Lanoue Photography 
Marvelous sequence. Your photos are so clear through out.
What speed settings do you use?
Thanks very much, I appreciate it!
These were shot at 1/1250 second and all settings in Manual.
And what was the aperture? Do you use spot metering?
Aperture for these was 7.1 which is a typical bird setting for me.
I don’t really pay any attention to metering I mostly just guess. 🙂 Seriously.
and how far were you?
I don’t know exactly. I remember wishing they were closer. These were a crop so they were not on top of me. But that can be good sometimes too, I get body parts way too often, and I don’t even use a huge big lens.
🙂
wonderful bird, great action shots and great blog !
I greatly appreciate you stopping by and thanks for the kind words!
E tu come sempre non ti sei lasciato scappare l’occasione e hai scattato delle foto fantastiche, stupende!!!!
Io cerco di fare del mio meglio là fuori e qualche volta ho fortuna. 😀
Grazie Pat!
What lovely markings for a bird with a dull name! Love the sequence of shots here, Phil!
Thanks a million Maggie, I’m happy you stopped by to check out the morning pelican!
Those are great flight shots. I particularly like that second one – I think it’s the fact that everything is stretched out. You should have set up a pool for the date of the last spoonie sighting and given away huge prizes to everyone who participated:)
I’m glad to hear you liked these pelican shots.
Hey! Great idea about the spoonie pool! Huge prizes are a must!
I’m going to set up a live web cam over there to give me an edge. Ya know, jus in case. 🙂
Oh, and although you didn’t ask…I know you were wondering how the alligators were doing with the cooler weather coming in. I saw Big Bubba today and he looked really good. He floated right over to me. What a great guy!
Ahem … if you are giving out the prizes, you shouldn’t advertise that you trying to cheat to win them:)
Oh yes and thanks for helping me remember what I was thinking about Bubba. Good to know they are still around so that you keeps you around.
I guess I will never be a criminal mastermind. Giving away my sneaky secrets in advance is not very wise, I see that now.
I knew you would be thinking about BB. I just knew it.
Wonderful captures! Bravo, Phil! I wish I could do stretches like this. 🙂
Thanks so much Dina, I’m thrilled you enjoyed these pelican pics! These guys are nice flyers and can have some dramatic takeoffs, but when they hit the water while fishing they look like they were just tossed out of a moving vehicle. Rather inelegant I’m afraid.
They’re absolutely adorable! 🙂 Thanks for letting us taking part in a world so different to ours.
It’s so good to know you like seeing and learning about the different types of wildlife we have in our area.
BTW…I saw White Pelicans last week! They are larger then brown pelicans and fish differently.
Photos of them will be coming soon… 🙂
Just magic Phil a great series of the pelican, I just love your work INCREDIBLE!!!,are all your pelicans brown?
cheers Callie
Thank you so much Callie, really glad you enjoyed these pelican photos and I appreciate your kind comments.
The brown pelican is a fairly common bird here especially along the coast. We can often see groups of them flying low over the ocean just out past the breakers, occasionally stopping to fish. But… last week I did see a group of American White Pelicans fly over the marsh. These birds are huge and uncommon here along the SC coast.
I’ll post photos of the white pelicans soon.
thanks for the info, we have black and white pelicans but never seen the brown ones.
I saw some American White Pelicans last week. I’ll probably post a few photos of those guys soon.
Wow…fantastic shots.
Thanks a bunch Edith!
Your images never cease to amaze me. Lovely to see the takeoff in stop action. The water action is marvelous to see, too.
I’m very happy you enjoyed these, thanks for checking them out!
I can hear them flapping! Such a remarkable sound and your photos enlightened my senses!
They are good size bird and when flying close those wings displace a lot of air. Thanks much!
My pleasure!
Each and every one of these is super, Phil. The last two are really excellent. You are so fortunate to see these birds much of the year.
Thanks a million for the kind words, Steve! It’s funny how I rarely pay much attention to them at the beach (which is only a few hundred yards away from the marsh) but when they come into the pond I’m all over them. 🙂
Great photos of the pelican, Phil. I hope your spoonies come down to my back yard for the winter. 🙂
Start looking for them soon Sylvia. I did see one this morning but we have very cold weather coming in tomorrow so I expect whatever ones we still have around here will be leaving shortly.
Will keep my eyes open, as usual. 🙂
Excellent images, Phil. I never saw a pelican in nature and hope to one day. Just too south of us here.
These birds are big and goofy but I like them. I saw American White Pelicans last week and I’ll try to post photos of those guys soon. They are HUGE!
Absolutely wonderful, devine light to. This is nature photography at its best.
I greatly appreciate your kind words Jan, thank you.
Amazing photographs…. I wanted to be a bird… 🙂 So beautiful. Thank you dear Phil, love, nia
Thank you so much Nia and yes you are right, being a bird would be fun! 🙂
I love the pelican. He looks so greaceful the way you captured him. And the detail/sharpness is amazing.
They mostly only look graceful in flight. When you see one hit the water it looks like it was just tossed from a moving vehicle. Rather indelicate I’m afraid. 🙂
Thanks for checking these out!
Hello Phil,
your series is simply brilliant, love it all!
Have a nice day
moni
Thank you so much moni I greatly appreciate that!
Fantastic captures of this lift-off. 🙂
Thanks a million! Glad you liked them.
I can just imagine the sounds being made as you took these photos. Love!
Those big wings can displace a lot of air for sure. And hey! I know you were wondering about the alligators! I saw two yesterday! Good for November. Gonna get cold tomorrow though so that could be it for them and the spoonies. 😦
Bummer! I was wondering about my gators!
This is beautiful series. I love the warm reflections (looks like autumn!) in the background, that pelican really stands out. Very artistic.
Beautiful shots! I was also out there Wednesday and got a shot of the brown pelican but nothing like these! It was my first time using a new lens with my cannon rebel – prime 300mm with a 1.4 converter. I’ve not had one good flight shot yet – any advise?
I Love Pelicans! Your photos are again enchanting, dear Phil! ▲