Lifer! First VA iNat record.
Pelicano con 3 crías.
Behind the White Pelicans. As many as 10% of the Brown Pelicans in Texas in early spring and summer have red pouches. This is a variation of the Eastern birds and does not mean they are necessarily California birds, despite field guide suggestions to that effect. Several red-pouched adult birds have been proven to have hatched from nests in the Gulf through banding studies.
OK, I will test your patience with some scans of some old, marginal 35 mm slides. gcwarbler had retained many boxes of some of my culled slides from 20-30 years ago. I have enough to keep me busy for many weeks at least with scanning, etc. (thanks Chuck….I think!). These will all be of records I had not posted to iNat previously. Sorry for the marginal/poor quality of most of these but they are all I have.
This is a picture of a group of pelicans on one of the boats at the Fort Pierce City Marina in Fort Pierce, Florida.
Although not super common in the Atlantic population, I saw this red-pouched Brown Pelican at South Padre Island today. My first for Texas.