In September I made my annual trip to central Washington state, that typically includes some pelican photography. I always go to Chief Joseph Dam in Bridgeport where I reliably find the birds. This year I also made a stop to photograph American White Pelicans at Pateros on the Columbia River.

At Pateros, the birds were further away than some of the spots at Chief Joseph Dam. I was still able to get some interesting shots. One of my favorites is the photo above that I call “The Three Amigos,” of three pelicans swimming together.

I also really like the shot below of a pelican backlit by the sun. The backlighting provides an interesting view of the bird’s gular pouch (gullet). It would be interesting to see the pouch with a fish in it.

We also visited Chief Joseph Dam in Bridgeport after the stop in Pateros. Below are several photos from that stop. I was able to get much closer to the birds at the dam but the lighting wasn’t as good.

All of the photographs were taken with a Nikon Z8 camera and a Z 600mm f/6.3 lens, my standard bird photography gear setup.