Wolf Run Studio - Birds
Bill Harrah
Wolf Run Studio
P.O. Box 444
Clifton VA 20124

Phone:
(703) 250-6711
Fax:
(703) 764-9204

 

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DRAWING
INDEX

  AMERICAN KESTREL     BALD EAGLE     BARN OWL     BARRED OWL     EASTERN SCREECH OWL     GREAT HORNED OWL     HARRIS' HAWK     OSPREY     PEREGRINE FALCON     RED-TAILED HAWK     SAW-WHET OWL     TAWNY FROGMOUTHS     CHICKADEE     CARDINAL     HUMMINGBIRD     TUFTED TITMOUSE     NUTHATCH     DOWNY WOODPECKER     RED-BELLIED WOODPECKER     CAROLINA WREN     GREAT EGRETS     PELICAN     CANADA GEESE     MUTE SWAN  
SHORE BIRDS (Click on an image to see the actual notecard size)
BROWN PELICAN
#PLN-400 Notecards Only

Most often found along North America’s seacoasts and coastal rivers, this large, bulky bird has a huge bill with a deeply expansible skin pouch in its lower mandible. It has a gray-brown body, whitish head and red-brown neck with white stripe. About 42 to 54 inches in length, and weighing eight to ten pounds, the brown pelican can have up to a seven foot wingspan.

Brown pelicans are unique in that they dive from the air for their food. Sighting their prey while in flight, they often plunge dive from heights of 20 to 50 feet to capture fish. Upon water entry the pelican lifts its upper mandible and opens its pouch outward to form a scoop. Once fish are trapped inside its pouch, the pelican shuts its bill and bobs to the surface. After waiting for water to drain from its bill, it swallows the fish.

Clumsy on the ground, pelicans are magnificent flyers capable of sustained soaring flight over great distances. In normal flight, they sail and glide, breaking the rhythm from time to time with slow-motion flaps of their wings.

Text © 1993 Dianne Harrah, Drawing © 1993 Bill Harrah

Brown Pelican pencil drawing

Copyright Notice
Drawings Copyright © 1992-2010 Bill Harrah, Wolf Run Studio (SM), All Rights Reserved. Wolf Run Studio is a service mark of Bill Harrah and has been in continuous use since 1992. All of the images on this website are in tangible form and are fully copyrighted. Each has an invisible digital identification which is traceable through the Digimarc Corporation. Viewers of the Wolf Run Studio website are allowed to browse and print out images for personal, non-commercial use only. You may not distribute copies of images or image files to anyone else for any reason. Images may not be reproduced or used in any form or any manner, or displayed on any website without the express written consent of Bill Harrah.

Text Copyright © 1992-2008 Terry White or Dianne Harrah. Text on this website is used with permission from the authors. Viewers of the Wolf Run Studio website are allowed to browse and print out text for personal, non-commercial use only. Text may not be reproduced or used in any form or any manner without the express written consent of the authors.

Information Accuracy
The information for the written description of each bird has been carefully researched by the authors and is believed to be accurate. New scientific observations, however, could make some information out-of-date. If you are a professional ornithologist, and have new information that you are willing to share, please contact Dianne Harrah .