wordless Wednesday

CA quail ~ 06/08/11 ~ Pinnacles

California quail
Callipepla californica

While I regularly see CA quail during hikes, I have only a handful of crappy pics. It helped for the photo above that this male quail is probably accustomed to lots of human traffic and was standing watch over its family in a prominent spot. Judging by the amount of poo dripped down the sign, this male quail uses this dump station perch regularly.

brown pelicans ~ 10/30/10 ~ Fort Ord Dunes

brown pelicans
Pelecanus occidentalis

This is my first entry of brown pelicans in flight. Usually my pics are so distant and fuzzy that they're not worth posting. Plus, I've gotten a little camera shy trying to take pics of pelicans as they've flown over my head, because I've been pelted with massive glops of poo. It sounds like a machine gun as the numerous heavy drops splat. I think I'd rather be beaned by a seagull.

Again, as with white pelicans, the seasonal range maps seem to be off for our area. Everything I've seen states they're only here in the winter. I swear they're here all year-round. I'll have to search my picture archives to see if I have brown pelican pictures from the summer months.

At least with this photo, I finally discovered the most obvious difference between adult and juvenile brown pelicans. The juveniles have light-colored bellies and a distinct white line along the underwing. The adults have all grey as seen from below. I believe there are 2 juveniles, of different ages, flying in the picture above.