The brown pelican is a unique feeder that makes impressive dives from above the surface. They fly just above the surface of the water, then circle high, and when ready dive headfirst, plunging under water to catch fish.
They are able to dive from as high as 30 meters! The deeper the meal the higher the dive.
This pelican landing turned out purple for artistic expression.
Who has seen a baby pelican? I haven´t. Something unusual about the populations of coastal pelicans is that baby pelicans are never seen.
Pelicans nest far away in inland or remote locations in large breeding colonies. The pair chooses a relatively flat nest site on gravel, sand, or soil near other pelicans at the same stage of the breeding cycle. In southern, drier regions, they nest amongst sparse vegetation. In forested regions, sites may be under shrubs or trees.
Both parents feed their young.
From about 25 days old, the young pelicans gather in “pods” or “crèches” of up to 100 birds. The parents recognise and feed only their own offspring.
Pelicans are very social birds. They live in large colonies composed of several hundreds of birds. A group of pelicans has numerous collective nouns, including pod, scoop and squadron.
Happy Sunday everyone!
Pelicans are a characterised by a long beak and a large throat pouch used for catching prey and draining water from the scooped-up contents before swallowing.
There are 8 different living pelican species. You can find them ranging latitudinally from the tropics to the temperate zone, though they are absent from interior South America and from polar regions and the open ocean.
This one just caught his dinner.
The diet of pelicans usually consists of fish. The size of the preferred prey fish varies depending on pelican species and location.
But did you know that occasionally they also eat amphibians, turtles, crustaceans, insects, birds, and mammals?
I am currently doing a study of pelicans for an image making course I am taking. After months of absence from drawing I am getting into it again. That means you can expect more pelicans.
This pelican is hungry.
The last couple of months just flew by. As they say, time flies when you are having fun and things are all over the place.
After spending the last 4 months enjoying life in Greece and Switzerland due to multiple flight cancellations, I am finally back on the island. As drawing came rather short the last months I am eager to take it up again.
One of the fondest memories of recent years is when we were watching pelicans surfing the waves of the Pacific Ocean in Guatemala. It looked like they where having a blast!
Mr Fox and Mr Mouse are going on a journey. They have no idea where the winds might take them…
I bought some red ink as I wanted to try out something different. This is what the first experiment looks like.
The ink doesn´t cover as well as I would have expected. Lets see what I will use it for.
Winter storms are still going strong here. I started to enjoy watching the snow hitting the window and got accustomed to cosy indoor life.
I am currently still working on a series of illustrations for a friend. But in the meantime I thought I put this little story of my own together.
On his stroll around the forest Mr. Fox was looking for a good spot to relief himself. Not paying attention of where, he just went about his business.
Before Mr Fox new what happened, he found himself in the big black mouth of the snowman who tried to swallow him whole.
But after the first surprise, Mr Fox started to put up a fight.
On it went. The struggle continued for a while, but eventually Mr Fox was able to free himself and ended up victorious.
The End.
This is Inktober remainder number 2 that I forgot to post. The prompt was called frail.
Flew off my bike the other day. I don´t feel frail but rather bruised and bumped. Otherwise ok.
I just discovered two Inktober drawings that I forgot to post.
This one is titled Husky. I love how it turned out. I´m still a dog person. What could they be looking at though?
Just like that…
We are currently having that terrible winter weather that I hate. It snows one day, only to be followed by heavy rain the day after…. So no chance to enjoy the snow or build a snowman. Therefore an ink version has to do for now.
Have you build a snowman this winter?
I just found this drawing in my sketchbook. I actually did it just before Christmas but then we escaped to the countryside and I forgot all about it.
It´s like flying into the new year. So far so good. It is nice to be warm and cosy at home while a winter storm is raging outside.
Happy New Year everyone!
Let´s see what the next year will bring. Thank you for all your support throughout the year.
Hope you all had a good holiday and survived without any bigger incidents. We spent a couple of days in the Icelandic countryside which was quiet and peaceful. Now back in town where it is time to continue the story of Mr Fox.
The angry snowman did not manage to swallow Mr Fox. Quite the opposite. After a short struggle between Mr Fox and the snowman, only one of them turned out to be victorious!
Another Inktober leftover. Sometimes its just nice to hang out. Either up side down in the air or with a big bowl of ice cream on the couch. Which one do you prefer?
I am clearly for the up side down in the air! Can´t wait to go back to aerial hoop class after the holidays.
Melanie Franz 