Check out our Guide to Photographing Pelicans in La Jolla.
It looked beautiful out my front window this morning, so I headed off to La Jolla hoping for some sharp brown pelican (Pelecanus occidentalis) flight shots. Not to be. The clouds had built up around Mt. Soledad by the time I got down there. I tried to salvage the morning with some blurred flight shots and got a couple of marginal keepers but the color of the light was weird (see shots below). What saved the morning from being a total loss was a small group of gregarious sea lions. Having been hauled out for a while most of them were a nice shade of blond (and dumb?).
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| Brown pelican in flight, blurred due to long exposure before sunrise. La Jolla, California, USA. Image: 20119 Species: Pelecanus occidentalis, Pelecanus occidentalis californicus Location: La Jolla, California, USA  View this Image in Google Earth! |
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| Brown pelican in flight, blurred due to long exposure before sunrise. La Jolla, California, USA. Image: 20120 Species: Pelecanus occidentalis, Pelecanus occidentalis californicus Location: La Jolla, California, USA View this Image in Google Earth! |
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| California sea lions hauled out on rocks beside the ocean. La Jolla, California, USA. Image: 20130 Species: Zalophus californianus Location: La Jolla, California, USA View this Image in Google Earth! |
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| Brown pelican head throw, blurred due to long exposure before sunrise. During a bill throw, the pelican arches its neck back, lifting its large bill upward and stretching its throat pouch. La Jolla, California, USA. Image: 20121 Species: Pelecanus occidentalis, Pelecanus occidentalis californicus Location: La Jolla, California, USA View this Image in Google Earth! |
