When I first moved to Washington State in 1990, the Brown Pelican was in trouble as a species, so much so that it had been placed on the Endangered Species List in 1970. The problem had been that a DDT manufacturing plant was located close to its only breeding colony along the west coast, located in the Channel Islands off California. The chemical was banned at just about the same time, and the pelican colony recovered. Only one chick was hatched in 1970, but today there are thousands each year. It was a conservation success story so effective that the species was taken off the endangered list in 2009.

I photographed this Brown Pelican in flight over the Washington Coast in 2012–a sight that I would not have seen 20 years before. So, the plight of the pelican became the flight of the pelican!

SIZE: This photograph is printed at an approximate final size of a bit over 3x3,” and is printed on cotton rag photographic paper using pigmented inks for an estimated 400-year display life.

LIMITED EDITION: This photographic print is part of a limited edition produced by photographer Lee Rentz. The edition consists of 250 prints, which includes all sizes and methods of printing.