Brown pelican, San Diego, California Jan 17, 2025

Brown pelican, San Diego, California

Today"s image features the brown pelican, a bird that doesn"t just fly but soars, spots, and dives with unmatched precision. Although it"s the smallest of the eight pelican species worldwide, it"s still a large bird, measuring about 4 feet in length and having a wingspan of 6.5 feet. It"s a marine-dwelling species and can be spotted along the Atlantic coast of the Americas, from New Jersey to the mouth of the Amazon River. On the Pacific coast, it can be spotted from British Columbia all the way to Peru, including a stop at the Galápagos Islands.

© Arthur Morris/BIRDS AS ART/Getty Images

palette

Today in History

Jan 17, 2018Train crossing the Tadami River in Japan
Jan 17, 2019A wassailing we go
Jan 17, 2020A seabird gets schooled
Jan 17, 2021On the Route of the Waterfalls
Jan 17, 2022Martin Luther King Day
Jan 17, 2023Muniellos Nature Reserve
Jan 17, 2024Bavarian Forest National Park, Germany

More Desktop Wallpapers:

Jan 20, 2023Penguin Awareness Day
Apr 14, 2024Bowling Ball Beach in Mendocino County, California
Feb 27, 2022International Polar Bear Day
May 22, 2025International Day for Biological Diversity
Oct 26, 2022Brocken spectre in Central Balkan National Park, Bulgaria
May 19, 2021A path lain with petals
Nov 21, 2020Headed to the High Country
Dec 27, 2021Snow buntings take flight
Jul 11, 2020How Quảng Ngãi got its grove back
May 5, 2023Cinco de Mayo
May 26, 2020It s tree-climbing season
Mar 13, 2025Happy Holi!
Dec 8, 2022The Cathedral of Florence, Italy
Mar 6, 2019Dreaming of the Tyrrhenian Sea
Dec 1, 2018A treaty for science
May 21, 2019Salmon return to the Copper River
Jan 2, 2024Prayer flags in Phobjikha Valley, Bhutan
Apr 28, 2025Impala in Moremi Game Reserve, Botswana
May 6, 2021Why you should thank a nurse today
Jul 28, 2021A goldie gala
Jun 1, 2022World Reef Day
Apr 28, 2023Arbor Day
May 21, 2021Whoopin it up!
Dec 2, 2025Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act anniversary
Jun 19, 2023Juneteenth
Aug 13, 2018Look to the north sky tonight for the Perseids
Feb 14, 2018Aerial view of a heart-shaped field in Trittau, Germany
Nov 1, 2025National Bison Day
Mar 31, 2024Happy Easter!
Apr 29, 2024Fujian Tulou, China