Up Close and Pelicanal at Bolsa Chica

JohnDCJohnDC Registered Users Posts: 379 Major grins
edited February 24, 2007 in Wildlife
When the smelt come into Bolsa Chica, so do the pelicans. These were taken a few months ago.
Added note: I don't know why these are not loading right, but if you are getting the "red X" for some of these frames, try hitting the reload button on your browser (it's the circular arrow button).

1. Starting to dive.
74705992.kfZfnfxu.jpg

2.
74705993.jlU4BBIN.jpg

3. Dive
74693312.Hq7P6uk0.jpg

4. At sunset.
74705991.b5SNcI5e.jpg

5.
74705988.y7lubjZ1.jpg

Comments

  • SkippySkippy Registered Users Posts: 12,075 Major grins
    edited February 23, 2007
    JohnDC wrote:
    When the smelt come into Bolsa Chica, so do the pelicans. These were taken a few months ago.

    1. Starting to dive.
    2.
    3. Dive
    4. At sunset.
    5.

    Hi John, the first two images didnt show up for me until I tried to reply to your post then they appeared headscratch.gif

    How lucky were you go get the entire Pelican in flight in the shot, I've tried this a few times but they take off too fast, and I'm usually standing too close to them....thanks for sharing...... Skippy
    .
    .
    Skippy (Australia) - Moderator of "HOLY MACRO" and "OTHER COOL SHOTS"

    ALBUM http://ozzieskip.smugmug.com/

    :skippy Everyone has the right to be stupid, but some people just abuse the privilege :dgrin
  • JohnDCJohnDC Registered Users Posts: 379 Major grins
    edited February 23, 2007
    Skippy wrote:
    Hi John, the first two images didnt show up for me until I tried to reply to your post then they appeared headscratch.gif

    How lucky were you go get the entire Pelican in flight in the shot, I've tried this a few times but they take off too fast, and I'm usually standing too close to them....thanks for sharing...... Skippy
    .

    Skippy --- I have had the same problem with the images and have had to push the "reload" (double arrow) button several times before they will show. Does anyone have any suggestions for fixing the problem? --- John
  • raptorcaptorraptorcaptor Registered Users Posts: 3,968 Major grins
    edited February 23, 2007
    Nice John! thumb.gif These guys are fun to shoot when they're fishing at Bolsa.
    Glenn

    My website | NANPA Member
  • DeeDee Registered Users Posts: 2,981 Major grins
    edited February 23, 2007
    I miss the pelis!
    Some very good photos indeed! I love the "dive" one with the look of great intent. Can you hear the pelican thinking, stay there little fishy, I'm comin' to get ya!?
  • DeeDee Registered Users Posts: 2,981 Major grins
    edited February 23, 2007
    Hmmm, such a problem!
    Skippy wrote:
    I'm usually standing too close to them....Skippy

    Standing too close????? huh, huh?

    I remember Harryb post a photo of pelicans standing behind some fisherman (like the sea gulls will do here on the west coast when they spot the fisherman cleaning the fish) but our pelicans are always high in the sky and too far for my lens to get more than a speck in the sky. OK, so I'm exaggerating a bit. rolleyes1.gif

    If I drive 5 hours I can see them at the north end of Pismo Beach and have a fighting chance of getting the pelican to fill my viewfinder... and once, a long time ago I got to stand near one at Santa Cruz, but now it seems they are trying to get the tourists NOT to feed the pelicans and gulls and sea lions.

    Even at the baylands one needs a good long zoom to get the white pelicans who keep their distance from people. Sigh!
  • riddim_makerriddim_maker Registered Users Posts: 1,835 Major grins
    edited February 23, 2007
    Hi John , #1 & #2 are not visible on my screen, but those I do see make want to return to Bolsa Chica just to photograph these guys. Thanks for sharing.thumb.gif
    Russ
  • saurorasaurora Registered Users Posts: 4,320 Major grins
    edited February 23, 2007
    I had problems viewing these this morning as well, but I can see all of them now. Neat shots...I love watching pelicans fly and dive. I usually watch them down in the marina in Seal Beach. I just scrolled down to view the shots to comment on and the first shot is back to a red X!!! Very strange. I like the lighting in the one where he's sitting on the fence.
  • JohnDCJohnDC Registered Users Posts: 379 Major grins
    edited February 23, 2007
    saurora wrote:
    I had problems viewing these this morning as well, but I can see all of them now. Neat shots...I love watching pelicans fly and dive. I usually watch them down in the marina in Seal Beach. I just scrolled down to view the shots to comment on and the first shot is back to a red X!!! Very strange. I like the lighting in the one where he's sitting on the fence.

    The lighting on the fence sitter is that great late light we get in Southern California in the fall. By the way, I emailed HarryB for advice on fixing this pic loading problem.
  • HarrybHarryb Registered Users, Retired Mod Posts: 22,708 Major grins
    edited February 24, 2007
    Outstanding set. clap.gif
    Harry
    http://behret.smugmug.com/ NANPA member
    How many photographers does it take to change a light bulb? 50. One to change the bulb, and forty-nine to say, "I could have done that better!"
  • kdogkdog Administrators Posts: 11,681 moderator
    edited February 24, 2007
    Nice set, John! Up close and "pelicanal" is right. clap.gif

    You ought to enter #4 in the butt-fest thread. mwink.gif

    Cheers,
    -joel
  • MaestroMaestro Registered Users Posts: 5,395 Major grins
    edited February 24, 2007
    Very nice series John
  • JohnDCJohnDC Registered Users Posts: 379 Major grins
    edited February 24, 2007
    kdog wrote:
    Nice set, John! Up close and "pelicanal" is right. clap.gif

    You ought to enter #4 in the butt-fest thread. mwink.gif

    Cheers,
    -joel

    I've got a lot more of those, Joel, but processing them would put my photo work in arrears. Maybe I could expedite--if you think the ends justify the means.
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