American White Pelicans, Nikon Coolpix B700

I went for a short afternoon walk by the Bow River on 18 April 2018, as I needed to check the Nikon B700 which I bought two weeks ago. I wanted to check how often the camera makes a loud "clunk" and pushes a photo that is in my viewfinder upwards, downwards or off to one side or the other, when I press the shutter button to take the photo. My guess would be that this happened with at least half the photos I tried to take, resulting in useless images. In the end, I simply gave up and went home. The reason I bought this camera was that I will need, very shortly, a camera with a powerful optical zoom (my old FZ200 only has 24x optical, whereas the B700 has 60x). I carefully avoided buying the Nikon P900 because I had seen so many very blurry, blown-out photos taken by other people, which totally turned me off. The Nikon P900 has 83 (?) times optical, which is far too much for a point-and-shoot. My Panasonic FZ1000 (with only 16x optical) is still somewhere "out there", after being sent off for repair on 21 December 2017, returned to me with exactly the same Playback problem, sent off again and they needed a spare part that was going to take at least 4 weeks to get, meaning I would not get the camera back in time for a trip. I told them to have it returned to me, unfixed, as I needed it sooner than that. This was told to them two weeks ago and I still have no camera. Am I fed up of cameras? Yes, I am!!!! That is two cameras I have bought that were faulty right from the start.

These birds are so spectacular and it is always such a treat when they return to the city each spring. This group was on a band of snow in the middle of the Bow River on 18 April 2018. Though I composed this image with a lot more water showing at the bottom edge, it still worked OK. Actually, I think I like the colour, light and detail better than in a similar shot taken with my old FZ200. Love those windblown tufts of head feathers.

"The American white pelican rivals the trumpeter swan, with a similar overall length, as the longest bird native to North America. Both very large and plump, it has an overall length of about 50–70 in (130–180 cm), courtesy of the huge beak which measures 11.3–15.2 in (290–390 mm) in males and 10.3–14.2 in (260–360 mm) in females. It has a wingspan of about 95–120 in (240–300 cm). The species also has the second largest average wingspan of any North American bird, after the California condor. This large wingspan allows the bird to easily use soaring flight for migration.

The bill is huge and flat on the top, with a large throat sac below, and, in the breeding season, is vivid orange in color as are the iris, the bare skin around the eye, and the feet. In the breeding season, there is a laterally flattened "horn" on the upper bill, located about one-third the bill's length behind the tip. This is the only one of the eight species of pelican to have a bill "horn". The horn is shed after the birds have mated and laid their eggs. Outside the breeding season the bare parts become duller in color, with the naked facial skin yellow and the bill, pouch, and feet an orangy-flesh color.

Apart from the difference in size, males and females look exactly alike. Immature birds have light grey plumage with darker brownish nape and remiges. Their bare parts are dull grey. Chicks are naked at first, then grow white down feathers all over, before moulting to the immature plumage." From Wikipedia.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_white_pelican