"Hey Buddy Do Ya MIND"
By: Micheal Lee (Janesville, CA)
On a misty early June morning at Antelope Lake in Plumas County, California, I set up with high hopes of catching western grebes doing their mating dance in the fog. But as often happens in wildlife photography, the birds had other plans. The grebes were way out in the lake, too distant for the kind of shot I was after. So, I settled in and waited, always hopeful something else might happen—and boy, did it ever. A handful of cormorants had already gathered on a favorite log to dry off, wings spread wide in that classic Dracula pose they do. Just as they were finally starting to look fluffy again, in lumbered this American white pelican (Pelecanus erythrorhynchos). It crash-landed right in the middle of the crew like it owned the place and immediately started flapping its wings, shaking off a full body’s worth of lake water with zero regard for personal space or the hard-earned dryness of its neighbors. The expression on the nearest cormorant pretty much said it all: “Hey buddy, do ya mind?” It was one of those scenes you can’t script—comedy, beauty, and a little avian attitude all rolled into one. The soft morning light and mist added a dreamlike quality to the moment, and I couldn’t help but keep the shutter firing as the droplets flew and the cormorants silently fumed.
Camera Information: Canon R7 - Canon EF100-400II +1.4XIII
Image Location: Janesville California
Category: Live Wildlife
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