Preening American White Pelican optical illusion – Nikon D500, f7.1, 1/5000, ISO 500, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light
I photographed this preening American White Pelican and dozens of others yesterday morning at Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge from the auto tour route. I took hundreds of photos of the pelicans as they fed, rested, took off, landed and preened. This single American White Pelican photo contains an optical illusion that confused my brain when I first viewed it and confuses my brain still.
Something didn’t look quite right when I viewed the pelican image on my monitor. The pelican is sharp, there are nice feather details, the water looks beautiful, have great eye contact and a nice head angle. The head looked odd to me though.
Then as I viewed the image I tilted my head until it touched my left shoulder and magically everything looked “right” to my brain. That is until I straightened my neck again.
Preening adult American White Pelican – Nikon D500, f7.1, 1/5000, ISO500, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light
The next image in the series of photos that I took of this preening American White Pelican gave me the clue that I needed to get my head wrapped around what I was seeing in the first image. This image shows the pelican straightening its neck while it preened.
Preening American White Pelican optical illusion revealed – Arrows pointing to the pelican’s chin and top of head
The American White Pelican in the first photo has its head twisted to at such a degree that it is practically upside down. It is upside down. The pelican’s chin appears to be the top of its head but the arrow in this image shows where the top of the pelican’s head actually is.
I’ve got a stiff neck from trying to make sense of the head angle of the pelican in this image.
Life is good.
Mia
Click here to see more of my American White Pelican photos plus facts and information about this species.
Really beautiful exposure on these white birds!
Flexibility is something so many birds and animals have. I envy them. How I envy them.
Wonderful capture. Thank you.
Awesome!
I wish I had the flexibility birds have!
I love optical illusions and so played with this one until I felt a little dizzy! Yes indeed, that head flips back and forth!
Thank you for the fun and for the beautiful picture. As always, a great start to my day.
It’s so interesting, too, how the individual eye perceives these details. I didn’t see it the way you saw it initially, until you described what you saw! Beautiful images (as always) regardless!
So much feather detail in your photo and the contrasts of blue water, white feathers and bright beak are so nice. White seems hard to photograph, but your photo is crisp and clear.