American White Pelican

Audubon first observed white pelicans, one of America’s largest birds, in 1808 on the Ohio River near Henderson, Kentucky. “During those delightful days of my early manhood, how often have I watched them with delight! . . . Pluming themselves, the gorged Pelicans patiently wait the return of hunger. Should one chance to gape, all, as if by sympathy, in succession open their long and broad mandibles, yawning lazily and ludicrously.” This description evokes the comical action Audubon captured in his earlier study of ca. 1831 (Figure 1), or, alternatively, the bird may be pulsating its pouch to cool itself. JJA painted both watercolors of the American White Pelican as nocturnal scenes in order to set in relief the bird’s white plumage.