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Bird in Mexico #4-8 (1 Viewer)

cheerful

Well-known member
These are taken in Sumidero Canyon. I know there are the pelican and heron. But not sure the species. Can anyone help me? Thanks!
 

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From left to right:
Black Vulture, Neotropic Cormorant, Great Blue Heron, Great Egret, White Pelican.

Nice shots and a wonderful place!
 
Hi All,

Some very nice shots indeed. Overall, I agree with Dave but with the following exception. The pelican shot is in unusual light, which heightens confusion, but it is an adult Brown Pelican rather than a White.

Chris
 
Chris,
Well, you can't really fault Dave on the Pelican, I would have thought it a White Pelican as well. I can't see the color of the legs, but just on the bill color I still would have thought it a White.
 
Sad how much garbage there is in the water in these pics. I haven't been to sumidero in many many years but it wasn't anywhere near as trashy as it looks in these pics.
 

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The lighting is pretty challenged when we're trying to decide between American White (AWP) and Brown Pelicans!

I think I see where Chris is coming from, despite the strong AWP jizz created by white head and shoulders, and orange bill. The appearance of dark, white shafted primaries contrasting not just with the wing coverts, but the secondaries would be a Brown characteristic, all wrong for AWP. Similarly, on the underside of the wings, there should be a high contrast between black secondaries and white underwing coverts for a AWP. The reddish hue towards the end of the bill, and the white nail would be good for a BP transitioning into breeding plumage, which would be about right this time of year, and not an AWP characteristic.

Nice job on a tricky bird, Chris!

:clap: :clap: :clap:
 
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JANJ said:
Confirmed?

Hi All,

Tough to know from Pelican Crossings's post, but I would hope that the trickiness of the initial impression from the mystery photo has worn off. Here is a link with some similarly plumaged Browns.
http://www.geocities.com/tgrey41/Pages/BrownPelicanp.html

The bird in the mystery photo is white naped and pale faced, two features that enhance confusion with White Pelican. I can totally see where Dave was coming from initially. But with a second look, it should be apparent that all of the features better fit Brown. Perhaps most notably, the adult bird has almost entirely brown underparts, and it does not present the entirely white bird with contrasting black flight feather effect of a genuine White Pelican, nor does it have the bright orange face, bill, and gular pouch combination of that species (but rather a pale face, and yellowish bill with more reddish tip, and a dark looking gular pouch characteristic of Brown).

Chris
 
Thanks Chris, Lagopus,
I must admit that there are some birds that I have really not paid much attention to deeming them a gimme, and Pelicans are among these. Just goes to show that being presumptious is bad politics!
 
I agree that it's a Brown Pelican. I've seen a lot of pelicans, and this one looked like a Brown Pelican to me even before I read Chris's post. Look at the wings, as B Lagopus described.
 
I almost put a disclaimer on the Pelican ID as I struggled between the two. I've been to Sumidero Canyon and Brown Pelican's are all I saw there (and lots of them). However, there appeared to be too much contrast in color for Brown Pelican and hence my (mis) ID. Thanks to all for clarifications.
 
Thanks everyone for the help!

It's not as bad as it looks. There is garbage but not that much. We saw 2 boats doing the cleaning work. Floating garbage allows the bird to stand on it, which gives the photo opportunity.

chubri777 said:
Sad how much garbage there is in the water in these pics. I haven't been to sumidero in many many years but it wasn't anywhere near as trashy as it looks in these pics.
 
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