#awpe

[iridescent-wildlife]

American White Pelican (Pelecanus erythrorhynchos). Family Pelecanidae, order Pelecaniformes.

Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, USA. March 2026.

[what-is-this-rubbish]

Finally put out my first transmitter of the season on this gorgeous dude 😍

(handled with proper training and permits!)

[lies]

American White Pelican

Lake Cachuma, February 8, 2021

[what-is-this-rubbish]

Dang it, I forgot to post these. I finally got to do a little work on my study species, the American white pelican!

I was able to tag along on a fledgling banding trip out to the island they breed on in the Great Salt Lake. It was a quick trip out there, and we only were able to band around 75 birds (down from ~500) because nest success has been relatively low this year. Hopefully we’ll see better numbers next year.

The water in the north-western arm of the lake is bright pink! It was really quite disorienting, and smelled a bit like melting plastic. Also pelicans are stinky. I love them.

[what-is-this-rubbish]

Ran into a local Utah blogger while out capturing pelicans this summer, and he just published a banger of a post about my project! Not only is he a great writer and super nice dude, but he also voluntarily followed me thigh-deep in the extremely stinky Great Salt Lake mud to help tag a bird 🤢

[what-is-this-rubbish]

Check out that wave action! American white pelicans flying over a bunch of phragmites

[what-is-this-rubbish]

First week of fieldwork, and I caught exactly zero pelicans. We did see pelicans and there were a ton of other cool birds around, and I think I'm quickly falling in love with the (mucky) waters of the great salt lake

[what-is-this-rubbish]

Chasing pelicans across the Great Salt Lake