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from $39
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A Brown Pelican at rest on a weathered harbour piling, rendered in a contemporary Audubon-inspired natural-history style on archival paper. A calm coastal piece for a beach house or a room with a view of the shore, and a warm gift for anyone who loves the water. Framed and unframed, from $39.
Each print is made to order. You can cancel within 12 hours of ordering, after which it goes into production and cannot be cancelled. Secure checkout via Stripe.
Printed on Hahnemuhle Photo Rag 308gsm.
He has found his post. One weathered harbour piling, above the tide, the estuary settling behind him in a thin band of blue. The bill is folded to the chest. The throat pouch, capable of holding eleven litres of water, is tucked and still. This is the pelican at rest, which is the moment the plate earns.
Pelecanus occidentalis is the only pelican species in the world that feeds by plunge-diving. From as high as twenty metres above the surface it tucks its wings, rotates its body to protect the oesophagus on impact, and hits the water bill-first. Air sacs under the skin cushion the blow. The pouch opens at the moment of impact and traps the fish. The whole dive takes roughly two seconds. The bird on the piling has done this thousands of times.
The species was listed as endangered in the United States in 1970, when the entire California breeding population produced five surviving chicks. DDT had thinned their eggshells to the point that incubating adults crushed their own clutches. The ban on DDT came in 1972. By 2009 the Brown Pelican was delisted. It is, in the record of North American conservation, one of the more complete recoveries.
None of that history shows in the plate. What shows is the bird as the Audubon tradition understood it: silver-grey plumage against harbour wood, the eye calm, the pouch at rest. The quiet version of a very capable animal.
A plate made in the spirit of close naturalist observation.
Each print is made to order through our global print partner and shipped from the production lab nearest you - allow a few days for printing plus local tracked delivery.
Each print is made to order. You can change or cancel it within 12 hours of ordering. After that it goes into production and can no longer be cancelled, though we will always put right anything that arrives damaged.
The available sizes (up to 24x30 inches) and any framed finishes are shown above. Choose yours before checkout.
Yes - each print is sized to fit standard frames. Framed finishes are offered on many prints.
Because each print is made to order, contact us within 14 days of delivery and we will put it right.
