Last week I decided to go out to Cedar Key and do a little bird watching. I hadn’t been there since shortly after Hurricane Idalia came through and blew some migrating flamingos off course. I did get lucky enough to see the flamingos, but they were too far away to get good photographs with the camera and lenses I had at the time. Since then I’ve upgraded and although I knew the flamingos were gone, I was hoping to see some white pelicans or other winter visitors before they head north again.

I didn’t manage to spot any white pelicans, but there were plenty of brown pelicans (Pelecanus occidentalis), especially down near the boat docks. The males are starting to get their breeding plumage and colors, and they are looking quite dapper. This fellow was roosting on a post near the docks, but he was quite actively cleaning his feathers both to keep himself in good condition for fishing and for attracting a mate soon. I would swear that he knew that I was watching him because he put on quite the little show. It was lots of fun watching him and his antics did make him a very interesting subject.