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ENDANGERED

SPECIES

This Species is Protected Under the
Endangered Species Act of 1973

BROWN
PELICAN

(Pelecanus occidentalis)

«a wonderful bird is the pelican,
‘At bill can hold more than his

belly can....” So begins a well
known limerick by Dixon Lanier
Merritt that is not far from the truth.
The pouch suspended from the lower
half of the pelican’s long, straight bill
really can hold up to three times more
than the stomach.

In addition to being used as a dipnet,
the pouch holds the pelican’s catch of
fish until the accompanying water (as
much as 3 gallons) is squeezed out.
During this time, laughing gulls often
hover above pelicans, or even sit on
their bills, ready to steal a fish or two.
Once the water is out, the pelican then
swallows the fish and carries them in its
esophagus. The pouch also serves as a
cooling mechanism in hot weather, and
as a feeding trough for young pelicans.

The brown pelican, also called
American brown pelican or common
pelican, inhabits the Atlantic, Pacific,
and Gulf Coasts of North and South
America. On the Atlantic Coast, they
can be found from Virginia south to the
mouth of the Amazon River in Brazil;
on the Pacific, they range from central
California to south-central Chile and
the Galapagos Islands; and on the Gulf
of Mexico, they are found in Alabama,
Louisiana, and Texas. They are rarely
seen either inland or far out at sea.

At 42 to 54 inches long, weighing
8 to 10 pounds, and with a 61- to
72-foot wingspan, brown pelicans
are the smallest members of the peli-
can family (there are seven species of
pelican worldwide). They can be iden-
tified by their chestnut-and-white
necks; white heads with pale yellow
crowns; brown-streaked back, rump,
and tail; blackish-brown belly; grayish
bill and pouch; and black legs and feet.

Brown pelicans are strong swimmers;
young ones barely able to fly have been

timed swimming at 3 m.p.h.

They are rather clumsy on land,
and fly with their necks folded,
heads resting on their backs, using
slow, powerful wingbeats.

Pelicans are social and gregarious.
Males and females, juveniles and adults,
congregate in large flocks for much of
the year.

Pelicans are primarily fish eaters, and
require up to 4 pounds of fish a day.
Their diet consists mainly of “rough”
fish—species considered unimportant
commercially. This includes menhaden,
herring, sheepshead, pigfish, mullet,
grass minnows, top minnows, and sil-
versides. Brown pelicans have also
been known to eat some crustaceans,
usually prawns.

Brown pelicans have
extremely keen eye-
sight. As they fly
over the ocean,
sometimes

at heights of
- 60 to 70 feet,
they can spot
== aschool of
small fish, or
even a single fish. Diving steeply into
the water, they may submerge com-
pletely or only partly depending on the
height of the dive, and come up with a
mouthful of fish. Air sacs beneath the
pelican’s skin cushion the impact and
help it surface.

Brown pelicans nest in large colonies
on the ground, in bushes, or in the tops
of trees. On the ground, a nest may be a
shallow depression lined with a few

feathers and a rim of soil

NW

Brown pelican populations plummeted due to the existence of DDT in the environment, which caused the
birds to tay eggs with shetls so thin they broke during incubation. However, due to the ban on the use of
DOT in the U.S., as well as other conservation efforts, the brown pelican has made a strong comeback.
The Attantic Coast population is no longer endangered.


Young pelicans are blind, feathertess, and altricial,
meaning they are completely dependent upon
their parents.

built up 4 to 10 inches above ground,
or it may be a large mound of soil and
debris with a cavity in the top. A tree-
top nest is built of reeds, grass, and
straw heaped on a mound of sticks
interwoven with the supporting tree
branches. In most of the pelican’s U.S.
nesting range (South Carolina to
Florida in the East; Southern
Calitornia in the West; and
Alabama, Louisiana,
and Texas on

oN

the Gulf), peak egg-laying occurs
in March and April. Two or three
chalky white eggs hatch in approx-
imately 1 month. Like many
birds, newly hatched
pelicans are blind,
featherless, and
altricial—com-
pletely dependent upon their
parents. They soon develop a soft,
silky down, followed by feathers.
Average age at first flight is 75 days.
Brown pelicans have few natural
enemies. Although ground nests are
sometimes destroyed by hurricanes,
flooding, or other natural disasters, the
biggest threat to pelican survival comes
from man. In the late 19th and early
20th centuries, pelicans were hunted
for their feathers, which adomed
women’s clothing, particularly hats.
During the food shortages following
World War I, fishermen claimed peli-
cans were decimating the commercial
fishery resource and slaughtered them
by the thousands. The nests were also
frequently raided for eggs. With the
advent and widespread use of pesticides
such as DDT in the 1940s, pelican pop-
ulations plummeted due to lack of
breeding success. DDT,
picked up by
pelicans eating
contaminated
fish, caused
the birds to lay
eggs with shells
so thin they broke
5 during incubation.
Several efforts in the
early part of the century
were meant to curb the decline
of brown pelicans. In 1903,
President Theodore Roosevelt
designated Florida's Pelican
Island as the first national
wildlife refuge, a move that
helped reduce the threat
of plume hunters.
Passage of the
Migratory Bird Treaty
Act in 1918 gave

e

and other birds and
helped curb illegal killing.

‘The pouch suspended from the lower hait of the pelican's long, straight bill holds up to three times more
than the stomach. in addition to being used as a dipnet, the pouch holds the pelican's catch of fish until the
accompanying water (as much as 3 gallons) is squeezed out.

Brown pelicans fly with their heads
esting on their backs, using siow,
powerful wingbeats.

Studies proving
the pelicans
were not harming
® commercial fisheries helped
to stop the wholesale slaughter
of pelicans by fishermen.
In 1970, the U.S. Fish and
Wildlife Service listed the
brown pelican as an endan-
gered species (under a
law that preceded the
Endangered Species Act
of 1973), meaning it was con-
sidered in danger of extinction through
all or a significant portion of its range.

In 1972, the Environmental
Protection Agency banned the use of
DDT in the U.S. and placed heavy
Testrictions on the use of other pesti-
cides. Since then, there has been a
decrease in the level of chemical conta-
minants in pelican eggs, and a corre-
sponding increase in nesting success.
The brown pelican was the first species
to so recover from the effects of
pesticides.

In 1985, brown pelican populations
on the Atlantic Coast of the U.S.
(including all of Florida and Alabama),
had recovered to the point that the
species could be removed from the
Endangered Species List in that part of
its range. The U.S. Gulf Coast popula-
tion, which is still considered endan-
gered, was recently estimated at nearly
6,000 breeding pairs. The brown peli-
can is also endangered in the Pacific
Coast portion of its range, and in
Central and South America. The
southern California population of
brown pelicans today is estimated at
4,500 to 5,000 breeding pairs.

BIOLOGUE SERIES

Prepared by:

U.S. Department of the interior
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
1995