American White Pelican
 

I saw a dozen or so of these in a pond by Buena Vista and Rainey Trail. With the low water level in the pond, they were having a feast feeding on all the fish. This one was not too keen on having his photo taken, not that I was close or anything. I think he’s giving me the Stink Eye.

That bump that you see on the bill means that it’s breeding season. Both males and females develop one. It falls off after they have mated and laid eggs.

Beautiful photo and thanks for the interesting facts on pelicans. I'm looking forward to some good rain and filled ponds!

If you have never witnessed it, I hope you will get a chance to watch them do a "cooperative fishing" maneuver. It is truly an amazing thing to witness. I've watched as many as 40 form a perfect circle, wings at full spread separated by only an inch...like humans holding hands. They then begin, en mass, beating their wings against the water surface as they move the circle smaller toward the center. The sound of all those wings pounding the surface really can't be adequately described, and the sight of the cooperation and coordination is stunning. This group maneuver is to move the fish under them toward the center until the are so concentrated they can be easily scooped up. Probability of witnessing this ritual right now is very low, obviously because the fish are already schooling in the middle of ponds in a very concentrated fashion due to the low water level, but if you've never seen it, hope everyone gets a chance to see it sometime in the future.

Quite a wonder of how birds came up with this team work.