The great white pelican is one of the largest flying birds in the world with a wingspan measuring 7 ft. 5 in to 11 ft 10 in. The great white pelican is a massive bird; yet they are able to fly with grace and ease due to air pockets found under its skin. Equipped with strong and broad webbed feet, they are excellent swimmers and are able to skim across the water's surface to take flight. Whole year-round resident populations are found south of the Sahara Desert in Africa. Migratory pelicans populate Eastern Europe to Kazakhstan when it is the breeding season and during the winter in northeast Africa and Iraq to the north of India and southern Vietnam. In Europe, they inhabit shallow freshwater lakes, marshes, swamps, or deltas, wherever there are adequate amounts of grasses or reed beds for nesting. They are monogamous and form long lasting bonds. Great white pelicans eat, breed, and migrate in large colonies. “Three Great White Pelicans” is a hand-painted digital image and photo composite created in Spadecaller’s Florida Studio on 2/23/2023.