American White Pelican... breeding adult

[Joseph Przybyla]

Out to Lake Morton in Lakeland, Florida this morning. I didn't fine the Green-winged Teal Artie mentioned but I did find the White Pelicans. Comments and critique welcomed and appreciated. Thank you for viewing.

Nikon D500
Nikon 80-400mm F/4.5-5.6 VRII AF-S ED image captured at 290mm
1/1000 F/5.6 Matrix Metering EV 0 ISO 160 Auto 1 WB, camera supported by a monopod
Post processed in Lightroom Classic CC, Photoshop CC 2019 and Neat Image for noise reduction
Cropped for composition and presentation

P.S. As a side point... when I first started a interest in bird photography and saw the growths on the bill of White Pelicans I felt terrible thinking the bird had cancer. Now I know it is what happens during breeding, amazing the changes in birds at that time.

[David Roach]

If I mention what I like about this one it would exceed text limit for a post. Simply put, another Joe classic... TFS

[kevin Hice]

Yes Joe this is nice. Details overall are great and whites look perfect.I like the composition also.

[Krishna Prasad kotti]

I like the bill, I like the background colors.

Whites can be brighter.

I like the hump on the bill which shows they are in breeding plumage...

TFS

[Joseph Przybyla]

I like the bill, I like the background colors.

Whites can be brighter.

I like the hump on the bill which shows they are in breeding plumage...

TFS

Hi Krishna, I disagree regarding the whites being brighter. The brightest whites on the forehead are at R223, G223, B223, not the 230 to 240 you look for but if I went brighter I would loose the soft early morning white. Thank you for viewing and commenting.

[Paul Burdett]

Killer closeup Joseph. Whites look fine to me.

[annmpacheco]

Wonderful portrait and i like the soft blue BG. In 2017 while at Ding Darling, my friend and i were the first photographers to notice and report the rare Great White Pelican, what commotion that started... Your story reminds me of the spectators that also said the bulging forehead was a tumor... Others said it was raging hormones, others took a photo of the back of my camera, and there were traffic jams for the next week or so!

[Daniel Cadieux]

This is a beautiful portrait Joe. I love the pale blues of the BG and almost matching eye. The whites look perfect to me. Very nicely done!

[Jim Crosswell]

I like the tight composition, details, exposure and sweet BG color. I like the one better than your latest post. Very well Joe!

[Joseph Przybyla]

Thanks everlyone for viewing and commenting, very much appreciated.