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Nature Photography 
Beautiful shots – these birds have such a pre-historic look to them. We see brown pelicans here on the coast of Virginia over the ocean
Hah! Yeah, they are a little prehistoric looking, especially when their crest stretches back like a Pterosaur. I haven’t seen brown pelicans myself since I lived in California as a kid. I remember them being all over the place there, though.
Gotta love the white pelicans and cool seeing the ‘centerboard’ on the ridge of it’s bill.
Huh – who knew?! Great shots.
Beautiful photos! I wonder what the purpose of that fleshy projection on the top of the bill is. It looks like a rifle sight. Do they line up the target fish and use it to aim their dive?
It is actually a mating signal. I guess both males and females engorge that bump to indicate they are looking for a mate. Once eggs are laid, it disappears. By the middle to end of summer, and throughout the year to late winter/early spring, you won’t see that. In addition to the bump, I’ve also noticed that some of the pelicans get that “dirty” darkening underneath their pouch towards the end of the bill. Not sure if both females or males get that…but it too seems to disappear by the end of summer on most birds (so they end up with a rather clean, shiny, yellow with a touch of orange bill. See here: https://jonrista.com/2012/08/28/david-and-goliath/)
Interesting, so it’s a sexy bump and dirty “chin” that indicate breeding prowess.
Yup, pretty much!