American White Pelican performs aerial dive to catch breakfast

A very cool and unusual series I captured a couple weeks ago of this massive bird.

These pelicans typical fish by swimming slowly, oftentimes in groups, dipping their massive bills into the water to catch fish. This one however used a skill more often associated with its cousin, the Brown Pelican – something called plunge diving.

It patrolled from the air and upon seeing its prey, dove into the water head first and snagged itself a very nice sized catch. I’ve never seen a white Pelican do this before. Pretty darned cool! I was fortunate enough to capture the whole sequence from the air to the swallow – 20 images in total. Scroll down to view them all.

Taken at Jackson Lake State Park, Colorado.