Black and white photograph of a flock of pelicans in flight just above Pacific Ocean surf at Waddell Creek Beach, Big Basin State Park, California.
Every five or ten minutes another flock of northbound pelicans descended to the water just offshore at Waddell Creek Beach at Big Basin State Park along the California coast just north of the town of Davenport. It was late and the light was diffused and subdued by high clouds and the incoming fog bank a this flock skimmed just above the surf.
A flock of low flying pelicans above the Pacific Ocean turns toward the horizon at Waddell Creek Beach, Big Basin State Park, California.
As I spend more time along this section of the California coast I have started to understand the “pelican highway” that these birds follow as they fly along the coastline. Just south of Waddell Creek Beach they fly along the edge of coastal bluffs (or sometimes skim along the water’s surface not far from the shoreline) before they pull in for a rest stop at this beach. Sometimes they seem to come down along the freshwater creek that arrives here from the Santa Cruz Mountains and Big Basin Redwoods State Park. On this June evening they seemed to be making only a quick stop. Several flocks came north along the waterline and when they arrived at my position they briefly stopped in the water just offshore before taking off once again and continuing north along the coast.
Two pelicans in flight along high bluffs above the Pacific Ocean coast north of Santa Cruz, California.
More pelicans… These were photographed along the bluff just south of Waddell Beach, the coastal section of Big Basin Redwoods State Park. I’ve observed the pelicans – and other birds – skim past very close to the edge of the bluff and then descend to the outlet of Waddell Creek on the beach.
The light on this day was not especially conducive to landscape photography – it had been a sort of murky, gray morning – so I thought I’d use the softer light (with its tendency to reduce blown highlights and to bring out shadow detail) to try to photograph these great birds. The pelicans are often seen along the coast in California, though their numbers had seemed to decrease over the winter. On this morning it seemed like they might be increasing once again.
This photograph is not in the public domain and may not be used on websites, blogs, or in other media without advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.
Three pelicans in flight along the Pacific Ocean coastline near Davenport, California.
I had a few hours to photograph along the coast north of Santa Cruz, California on this morning so I decided to head up as far as Waddell Creek beach (part of Big Basin State Park) and see what I could come up with. The light wasn’t promising. It was foggy – which can be interesting – but the sort of fog that sits a few hundred feet up above the ocean, leaving the view sort of dismal and gray. I figured that possibilities might include certain landscape photographs (perhaps on the fog/sun boundary, where things can be interesting), wildflowers (near their peak along the coast, and often interesting in soft, diffused light), and wildlife.
I’m always interested in photographing the pelicans that skim up and down the coast, often in groups of a half a dozen or more. At my first stop at Scott Creek I didn’t see much of interest, so I kept going. Just north of here the road travels along the edge of tall coastal bluffs, and shore birds often skim right along the edge of these cliffs. I stopped at one such spot where I’ve photographed before and made a few photographs of gulls and pelicans and other birds, but then quickly moved on to Waddell Creek beach.
After shooting at Waddell for a while I headed back to the south. Near the top of the hill rising south from Waddell, I happened to look to the west and saw a large flock of pelicans passing right along the bluff, not more than 15-20 feet from the edge. I slowed and before I could stop another large flock repeated the pass of the first group. I quickly unloaded by gear and headed out to the edge of the bluff… only to wait for 10-15 minutes without another flock passing by. (I could have predicted that! :-) However, patience paid off and eventually several large groups appeared along the bluff and passed right in front of me, including this trio that was part of a much larger flock.
This photograph is not in the public domain and may not be used on websites, blogs, or in other media without advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.
Photographer and visual opportunist. Daily photos since 2005, plus articles, reviews, news, and ideas.
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