200718 Pelicans in Flight
During the “stay at home” orders of the last three months, I was able to review my negatives. There seem to be a few that included the Brown Pelican flying in formation or at least in groups. There has always been a joy for me to watch the flight of these large birds. The wing-span is about seven feet and the Brown Pelicans are among the smallest of the species. This enables them to soar at high altitudes for miles. They also fly near the surface of the water where the ground effect creates less down draft and almost enables the bird to float above the water as long as they are one wing-span above the water.
In the meantime, the May issue of Lenswork came out as a virtual version, because the printer was shut down due to the pandemic. In this issue was Brooks Jensen’s instructions on how to make a chap book or a homemade zine. So I embarked on this small project to create more photographs of flying pelicans. Early at sunrise, I went to locations where I thought the groups would fly by. It was almost like street photography where you park at a location and wait for people to come by. At sunset, I did the same as there seem to be much activity in the sky. The best thing was there were no other people around to keep six feet away from. The experience was great and finally I completed the project. That may be the biggest thing is that I stayed with it and got it done.
