Pelican

Top of my 'to do' in London list was to try see the pelicans in St. James's Park.  The last time I had been there, they were on the island in the middle of the lake and difficult to take a photo of.  This time it was a different problem.  They were on the edge of the lake right at the footpath surrounded by people!  It was equally difficult to take a photo with so many people about.  The pelicans sadly have no fear of humans.  At one point I sat on the bench to try get a better angle at a shot and one of them came right over to me.  Seconds later it was eating my lens hood.  Thankfully the camera was on my leg and not up to my face!!!  I love nature but this was a tad too close for comfort.  So was the pecking of my jeans!!!  

The feature photo was taken at 140mm zoom with a shutter speed of 1/1000 sec., an aperture of f7.1 and an iso of 320.

Pelicans have a long beak and a large throat pouch which is used for catching pray and draining water from before swallowing the meal.  It is great to get the opportunity to see this in action.

Same settings but at 280mm zoom (cropped in processing for better composition)