Brown Pelican, Newport, Oregon on 2 October 2009 by Greg Gillson.Brown Pelican numbers are unprecedented this fall along the coastline of the Pacific NW. Every summer and fall these birds wander up from their breeding colonies in Baja California, accompanied by Heermann's Gulls. This year, however, has been special.
Nearly a thousand Brown Pelicans have been roosting at night near Newport, Oregon, either on Yaquina Head by the lighthouse, or in Yaquina Bay and on on its jetties.
To get this photo, I drove out to the south jetty of Yaquina Bay in late afternoon. The low-angled sunlight provided a rich warm glow and the desired shadows that bring out the shape of the bird. Brown Pelicans were coming in off the ocean, turning up into the bay, then returning along the jetties, right over and beside me, including this nice adult.