Early on Sunday morning, March 8, 2009, we headed out aboard the Grande on the Islas Coronados and Beyond Pelagic Trip (San Diego Bird Festival) to look for pelagic species. It was a wonderful trip with lots of species. The Coronado Islands (Islas Coronados) consist of a group of four islands off the northwest coast of the Mexican state of Baja California. Battered by wind and waves, they are largely infertile and uninhabited except for a small military detachment and a few lighthouse keepers. The islands lie between 25.6 and 32 kilometers south of the entrance to San Diego bay and 13.6 kilometers from the Mexican mainland. After a full day of cruising, we headed back into the San Diego Harbor. Brad took this photograph (the San Diego skyline is in the background) that shows several Brown Pelicans (Pelecanus occidentalis californicus) atop a rocky outcrop in breeding plumage with their bright red gular pouches.