Pelicans, the Neck Stretch

The pelicans are among my favorite birds to photograph. One action they do once in a while is the neck stretch, or some call it the "neck throw." Typically, after preening itself for a while, a pelican would do this stretch. It is a pretty quick action pointing their bill straight up and opening the pouch fully wide. The peak action only lasts a fraction of a second, and it is difficult to predict when they will do this.

Below are three samples of brown pelicans doing this neck stretch. I have seen American white pelicans making this stretch also, but I don't have any images of that action. Among the three images below, I captured the one on the left just a few days ago at the La Jolla Cliffs, near San Diego. The middle image was also from La Jolla back in 2016. I captured the one on the right in April 2019 at Moss Landing in the Monterey Bay. The difference is that in late December to January/February, adult brown pelicans are in their mating plumage so that they are very colorful, as the head turns yellow and the pouch bright red.

After some initial failed attempt to capture this action, more recently, I would focus on just one pelican. I would ignore other surrounding pelicans, even thought they could be making this stretch also. My reaction is not fast enough to swing my camera over once the motion has started. Another key is to get the camera in the vertical orientation and leave plenty of room for the neck to stretch. I do have my share of bad images where the bill and pouch are cut off half way or at the tip because I am not leaving enough space in the frame.

Another key is to get the camera in the vertical orientation and leave plenty of room for the neck to stretch.

Indeed - or the result will look like this:

instead of this:

Also fun when they turn their pouches inside-out - which sometimes precedes a head throw:

Here is one example from just a few days ago, on December 30. I wasn't anticipating any stretch such that my Nikon D850 + 80-400mm AF-S VR were in the horizontal orientation at 400mm, and I didn't react fast enough to zoom back. This is the entire frame.

A friendly, intelligent bird. They are much more approachable where the fishing boats dock and there are free samples. The buoy & buildings way in the background break the Nature Forum rules slightly.

One of my favorite birds.....[ATTACH=full]1323871[/ATTACH]

Bill, I assume your image is that of an American white pelican. The white pelican is considerably larger than the brown ones. I have a slide that I captured in Florida with them side by side some 30 or so years ago, and the size different is very obvious. I have plenty of white pelican images as well, but not when it is stretching the neck.

Bill, I assume your image is that of an American white pelican. The white pelican is considerably larger than the brown ones. I have a slide that I captured in Florida with them side by side some 30 or so years ago, and the size different is very obvious. I have plenty of white pelican images as well, but not when it is stretching the neck.

Shun, yes mine is an American White pelican. The ones I have photographed for the last 20 years migrate to White Rock Lake in Dallas. About 100 arrive every October and depart in early April. Some are tagged and we know they come from Idaho. It always amazes me that this big, fat bird can fly overt the Rocky Mountains to reach Texas.

break the Nature Forum rules slightly.

It's Friday, so we'll assume the Nature Unlimited spec's are in play.;)

The pelicans are among my favorite birds to photograph. One action they do once in a while is the neck stretch, or some call it the "neck throw." Typically, after preening itself for a while, a pelican would do this stretch. It is a pretty quick action pointing their bill straight up and opening the pouch fully wide. The peak action only lasts a fraction of a second, and it is difficult to predict when they will do this.

 

Below are three samples of brown pelicans doing this neck stretch. I have seen American white pelicans making this stretch also, but I don't have any images of that action. Among the three images below, I captured the one on the left just a few days ago at the La Jolla Cliffs, near San Diego. The middle image was also from La Jolla back in 2016. I captured the one on the right in April 2019 at Moss Landing in the Monterey Bay. The difference is that in late December to January/February, adult brown pelicans are in their mating plumage so that they are very colorful, as the head turns yellow and the pouch bright red.

 

After some initial failed attempt to capture this action, more recently, I would focus on just one pelican. I would ignore other surrounding pelicans, even thought they could be making this stretch also. My reaction is not fast enough to swing my camera over once the motion has started. Another key is to get the camera in the vertical orientation and leave plenty of room for the neck to stretch. I do have my share of bad images where the bill and pouch are cut off half way or at the tip because I am not leaving enough space in the frame.

 

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Shun, thanks for sharing this behavioral oddity, and the methods for capture. We get a lot of pelicans at the Bear River Refuge (in warmer months), and I'll try to remember this. Sadly, they're unlikely to be here during breeding season, but we'll certainly see the results of procreation.

The first time I went to La Jolla, I couldn't get any good neck stretch image. I went again a year later and I started getting some good results. It is hard to predict when a pelican will stretch its neck, but after some preening, they may move their head around, scratch the head against the body (see below), and then suddenly stretch the neck. I would leave plenty of room in the initial composition so that there is space for the bill to move into. I would stick with one pelican as it is preening. At least my reaction time is not fast enough to swing my camera pointing to another pelican once the stretching starts.

A different kind of neck stretch of a pelican

Pelican struggling to swallow a large fish by Tom Yin, on Flickr

Pelican struggling to swallow a large fish by Tom Yin, on Flickr