• BirdForum is the net's largest birding community dedicated to wild birds and birding, and is absolutely FREE!

    Register for an account to take part in lively discussions in the forum, post your pictures in the gallery and more.
Brown Pelican
jmorlan

Brown Pelican (Pelecanus occidentalis)

This strange behavior is often mistaken for "yawning." Its technical term is "glottis exposure" in which the pouch is stretched and turned inside out in the process. The purpose of this extraordinary behavior has not been fully established but one hypothesis is that it helps dislodge material stuck inside the pouch. Here is a video: https://youtu.be/qWouZYhnHno
Click to expand...
Location
Santa Cruz, California, USA
Date taken
16 September 2020
Scientific name
Pelecanus occidentalis
Equipment used
Canon Powershot SX60 HS
Kits
What an unusual and interesting capture of this behaviour, Joseph.
 
KC Foggin
Staff member
Opus Editor
Supporter
A smashing image of this behavior Joe and illustrated beautifully!
 
delia todd
Staff member
Opus Editor
Supporter
OMG!!!! What an amazing sight and capture of this behaviour too Joe.

We absolutely must find the proper place for this image in The Opus somewhere. Is it just the Brown Pelican that does it, or all of them?

...and I think "Glottis exposure" possibly needs to be in the Dictionary too!

A cracking picture this lad. Very well done.
 

Media information

Category
North America
Added by
jmorlan
Date added
View count
224
Comment count
6

Share this media

Top