Pelican Gulping Behavior+RP

Gallery: AvianPosted October 9, 20161,276 views7 comments

I got pulled away into some projects for some friends of mine the last couple of months and haven't had a chance to shoot or participate in this forum. Here's one from earlier this summer.

This is an image of a pelican from the pond where I took my previous pelican image. The pelican was holding on to a large carp in its pouch for well over an hour. During this time, it was constantly tilting its head and agitating its pouch. I suspect it may have already eaten before and was storing this for later.

840mm, 1/1250s@F10, ISO320, -1 Ev, tripod.

Comments

7 comments

Comment posted by Barbara Graham on October 10, 2016 at 12:46 AM

This is an amazing picture just because of the subject, but in addition the light and colors are wonderful, and the water is great.

Registered on July 27, 2010, 1310 Posts, 5035 Comments

Comment posted by Steve Thompson on October 10, 2016 at 1:36 PM

What a great view of that huge pouch Govind. The low pov and nice background along with sharp details really make this a cool shot.

Registered on August 7, 2014, 125 Posts, 2319 Comments

Comment posted by Dennis Plank on October 10, 2016 at 6:46 PM

Gorgeous, Govind. Great low angle, interesting behavior, superb detail and wonderful light. They don't get much better.

devil

Registered on January 28, 2008, 1767 Posts, 23192 Comments

Comment posted by Max Waugh on October 10, 2016 at 9:44 PM

What a wonderful view of the pouch. It really stands out from the background. Maybe I'm the only one, but it seems slightly dark. I know it's important to keep those whites in check, but it seems there's a little leeway to brighten things up?

Max

Registered on September 26, 2008, 428 Posts, 2329 Comments

Comment posted by S Govindarajan on October 10, 2016 at 11:13 PM

Thank you all for your feed back.

Max: The exposure was optimized to capture all the details on the pelican. Perhaps that made it dark overall. Here's a repost with the exposure brought up by 1/3Ev. Does this look better?

Registered on April 19, 2008, 115 Posts, 1921 Comments

Comment posted by Jim DeWitt on October 11, 2016 at 9:55 AM

A very nice behavioral shot, Govind. By the look of the pouch, the problem was the carp was too big to swallow.

Registered on August 28, 2006, 1240 Posts, 8506 Comments

Comment posted by Nate Chappell on October 14, 2016 at 9:18 PM

Lovely light in this and it really shows off the pouch well, sweet shot Govind! I prefer the contrast of the original post, the dark background helps the pelican stand out more. devil

Registered on February 1, 2006, 1158 Posts, 19528 Comments