DENVER — The unexpected pelicans of Colorado hold a special meaning for an award-winning wildlife photographer.
Places like Sloan's Lake are an oasis for wildlife, generally protected and left alone. While visitors on a morning walk might expect to see red-winged blackbirds or geese, they might have to squint to believe the white birds on the water are pelicans.
"I'd say, aren't they by the ocean?" Mystica Flurry said.
Flurry is visiting from the California coast.
"I feel like I've seen them, but then I say, 'Why, there's no ocean?!'" Flurry said.
When it comes to capturing wildlife, Wendy Shattil is one of the world's best. She's won the Wildlife Photographer of the Year, a global award.
"You can see the teeth marks from a beaver. It's nice that the park leaves things like this because it's very natural," Shattil said.
Shattil and her husband, Bob Rosinski, started shooting pictures together 30 years ago. They clicked.
"We lived wildlife photography 24/7," Shattil said. "The way we photographed together and our points of view, that was unique enough for us to pay the bills and be pretty comfortable in a field that is difficult to depend on for your income."
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One of their early shots stuck with both of them.
"[We] considered it the only dancing pelican in the world and so special that's what our website was named after," Shattil said.
When Denver7 found Shattil, we had already seen her work. What we didn't know was how much what pelicans meant to her, until she took us to Cherry Creek Reservoir and a short walk to a bench.
"Every time I come to Cherry Creek I stop for a bit, 'cause it's a nice place to stop anyway, so what the heck," Shattil said. "This is Bob's bench. One of his favorite places to shoot at Cherry Creek. It's too long of a story to say why. We were together for 36 years and married a week."
This is where Rosinski's friends gathered for his memorial 11 years ago after he passed away from prostate cancer.
"He did not like going to the doctor," Shattil said.
His bench has a plaque featuring their dancing pelican.
"It seemed quite appropriate to put his favorite pelican photo in part of it. It's a happy pelican as well," Shattil said.
Shattil can find pelicans in Colorado from lakes to reservoirs.
"I scouted this yesterday and check on the areas I expected them to be," Shattil said. "They're pretty lazy."
But sometimes, stories change. In this case, it shifted from trying to find pelicans in Colorado to knowing where the most important one is for Shattil.
"I can guarantee we'll see a pelican anytime of the year, because of the one on the bench," Shattil said.
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