Oceanside Pelicans — Entry for Feathered Friends — Show Me A Photo Contest Round 124

Although we live by the water, it's a sheltered bay, rather than the "real" ocean.

A few times a year we like to pile in the car and drive the appropriately two hours it takes to get out to Washington state's rather wild and windy Pacific coast.

This is my entry for the Feathered Friends - Show Me A Photo Contest Round 124 challenge organized by @nelinoeva in the Feathered Friends Community.

Brown Pelicans (Pelecanus occidentalis) in flight, Washington coast

Of course I always go armed with my camera (rather than just my phone), even though the almost constant salt mists generally require more or less constant lens cleaning!

It was not long before we got lucky!

In the surf, after a dive

After about 10-15 minutes, several brown pelicans came by, and a couple of them even made spectacular dives and then settled in the surf, not far from where we were walking.

They seemed quite intent on patrolling the water's edge, flying by slowly against a stiff wind, and then gliding back by quite fast.

They are really quite large and majestic birds, when you get close to them. Their wingspans are generally about 6-7 feet (around 2 meters, or a bit larger).

Because it was quite windy, it was tricky to keep them in focus and and in the frame with a 700mm lens. Much of the time, I just got great shots of empty space or plain surf!

Thanks for stopping by, and I hope you enjoyed the pictures!

All images are our own, unless otherwise credited!