Positively Only The Pelican Nose, Face 19 and 20

Pelicans are positively one of my favourite birds.  Since my last post was about enjoying fishing on the lake in my dad's boat with sunshine on my shoulders, I thought it only fitting that I continue the theme of being near the water.  On the lake where we often fish, called Rattlesnake Dam, the mornings are filled with excitement as the various water birds feed. They parade back and forth from one end of the lake to the next in leap frog fashion.  It is an amazing sight and fills me with absolute delight to be a witness to the event.

Positively Only The Pelican Nose is created using only pelicans and clouds. There are pelican like clouds and the shapes are continued in the lake's banks.

Just like how the pelican's nose is one of its most interesting parts, I took extra time to make the largest pelican cloud lady's nose with extra care.  It was a bit of challenge to make the human nose with the pelican nose deforming it somewhat.

The American White Pelicans can be seen skimming over our prairie lakes and rivers, gliding with their bellies very close the water.  They are often very brave and land close to the boat or they fly low over our heads, never getting too close though.

Pelicans work together as a team to herd schools of fish together so the pelicans can dip and scoop the fish with their bills.  According to my book called Birds of Alberta, by Chris Fisher and John Acorn, the sophisticated feeding behaviour reflects their "highly refined sociability"!

Their "highly refined sociability" motivated me to use groups of pelicans to intentionally create two faces.  Now that the picture is on the computer screen, I  can find other faces. How many faces can you find made out of pelicans?

Fun Facts

• The pouch of a pelican can hold 12 litres of water, which is drained from its mouth before swallowing the fish.
• The length of a pelican is between 137 and 178 centimetres (55-70 inches) .  The width is 2.8 metres (8 feet) wing tip to wing tip I would imagine.

Here is a photograph of mine, that I am very proud of,  taken in the summer at Grassy Lake.  Thanks to my dad who catered to my photography whim and drove me in  his boat as close as possible to Pelican Island so I could capture this special shot!