The evening sun on the day I picked to visit the American White Pelicans gave these majestic birds a golden glow. Each year, they gather by the Weir on the Bow River in Calgary. There can be many dozens of them gathering at the same time and you can see the frenzy when several spot the same fish! Each bird is slightly different, with varying amounts of black on their feathers.
This photo has been used in "The Atlas of Breeding Birds of Alberta", published 2007, which was a nice surprise! See photo of the page in a comment box below.
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A fish has been spotted! The churning water at the base of the Weir creates bubbling, foamy water which leads to a whole variety of Pelican photo backgrounds.
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Even though these birds all tend to look white from a distance, you can see a lot of variation when they are closer.
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I was surprised at how few fish were caught during the evening I spent at the Bow River weir in Calgary. I only noticed about three Pelicans actually feeding.
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Well, not quite! The upper bird in the photo still has the bump on its bill that forms during breeding season.
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