American White Pelican Photos

Photography by Terry Sohl

My Favorite: I absolutely love American White Pelicans. One of my favorite parts about spring is the arrival of the pelicans, particularly when you see them in flight, with flocks of massive, slowly circling and banking birds that seem to be having fun and making the most out of spring migration. My favorite American White Pelican photo is from April 2013, of a bird in gorgeous breeding condition, taking flight along the edge of a small wetland.

American White Pelican - Pelecanus erythrorhynchos - Favorite Photo


American White Pelican	American White Pelican 2	American White Pelican 3	American White Pelican 4
April 2003	April 21st, 2003	April 19th, 2003	May 30th, 2005
Madison Waterfowl Production Area, South Dakota	Lake Vermilion, South Dakota	Lake Vermilion, South Dakota	Lake County, South Dakota
Closeup of head and upper body, bird in breeding condition	Pelican perched on shoreline spreading its wings	Profile of pelican swimming on a gloomy day	Small group of pelicans swimming together

American White Pelican 5	American White Pelican 6	American White Pelican 7	American White Pelican 8
April 21st, 2013	April 21st, 2013	April 21st, 2013	April 21st, 2013
Lake Vermilion, South Dakota	Lake Vermilion, South Dakota	Lake Vermilion, South Dakota	Lake Vermilion, South Dakota
Breeding condition bird in flight with full wing spread	Breeding condition pelican standing on rock in middle of a stream	Breeding condition bird taking flight over wetland habitat	Spring breeding condition pelican swimming in river

American White Pelican 9	American White Pelican 10	American White Pelican 11	American White Pelican 12
May 2nd, 2009	April 8th, 2007	April 26th, 2007	May 20th, 2007
Lake Thompson, South Dakota	Wall Lake, Minnehaha County, South Dakota	Lake County, South Dakota	Lake County, South Dakota
Single breeding condition bird on a gloomy morning	Large flock of pelicans sunning themselves on the shoreline	Pair of pelicans in flight on sunny blue sky day	Pair of breeding condition pelicans foraging in shallow water

American White Pelican 13	American White Pelican 14	American White Pelican 15	American White Pelican 16
July 5th, 2009	May 2nd, 2009	April 22nd, 2011	April 22nd, 2011
Lake Whitewood, South Dakota	Lake Thompson, South Dakota	Minnehaha County, South Dakota	Minnehaha County, South Dakota
Young first-year bird with reflection on calm morning	Pair of pelicans in flight with high key background	Group of birds in flight over wetland habitat	Pelican taking flight from surface of a lake

American White Pelican 17	American White Pelican 18	American White Pelican 19	American White Pelican 20
September 27th, 2011	September 27th, 2011	April 21st, 2013	April 21st, 2013
Below Oahe Dam, South Dakota	Below Oahe Dam, South Dakota	Lake Vermilion, South Dakota	Lake Vermilion, South Dakota
Autumn plumaged bird in flight on blue sky day	Bird foraging in rapid waters below Oahe Dam	Adult breeding plumaged pelican standing in shallow water	Closeup of adult breeding plumaged bird

American White Pelican 21	American White Pelican 22	American White Pelican 23	American White Pelican 24
April 21st, 2013	October 8th, 2014	September, 2014	April 23rd, 2020
Lake Vermilion, South Dakota	Big Bend Dam, South Dakota	Lake County, South Dakota	Lake Thompson, South Dakota
Pair of breeding condition birds taking flight	Non-breeding condition pelican in shallow water	Non-breeding condition bird wading at edge of a lake	Breeding condition pelican in flight on a sunny day

American White Pelican 25	American White Pelican 26	American White Pelican 27	American White Pelican 28
November 22nd, 2018	November 22nd, 2018	April 23rd, 2017	May 18th, 2020
Below Oahe Dam, South Dakota	Below Oahe Dam, South Dakota	Western Minnehaha County, South Dakota	Kingsbury County, South Dakota
Single pelican coming in for a landing	Pelican and Ring-billed Gull friend on rocky shoreline	Large flock of pelicans pinwheeling in flight	Breeding plumaged bird on sunny day

American White Pelican 29	American White Pelican 30	American White Pelican 31	American White Pelican 32
April 19th, 2019	August 2nd, 2020	August 2nd, 2020	September 13th, 2020
Brookings County, South Dakota	Lake Thompson, South Dakota	Lake Thompson, South Dakota	Minnehaha County, South Dakota
Spring breeding condition bird swimming on a sunny day	Pelican in flight over shallow wetland habitat	Bird in flight on a sunny day	Fall pelican taking flight from a rock

American White Pelican 33
September 13th, 2020
Minnehaha County, South Dakota
Two first-year pelicans standing on a rock