The brown pelican is a bird of the Atlantic, Gulf, and Pacific coasts, and the only pelican in the U.S. that catches fish by plunge-diving headfirst from the air. Nearly wiped out along the Gulf Coast by , it recovered after the 1972 ban and was removed from the Endangered Species List in 2009.
Appearance
- Appearance
- Length 3 ft 3 in–5 ft (1–1.5 m), wingspan about 6 ft 7 in–7 ft 6 in (2–2.3 m). Silver-gray back and dark brown belly. Breeding adults have a white head with a yellowish crown and dark reddish-brown back of the neck; nonbreeding adults have an all-white head and neck. Young birds are grayish-brown.
- Voice
- Usually silent; adults give low grunts at nesting colonies.
Look-alikes
American White PelicanPelecanus erythrorhynchos
The white pelican is mostly white and much larger; the brown pelican is much darker overall. Brown pelicans plunge-dive from the air, while white pelicans fish in groups from the water's surface.
Why they get mixed upBoth are large pelicans that share Gulf and Pacific coastal waters in winter.
Where it lives
- Typical habitats
- Ocean beaches
- Salt bays
- Estuaries
- Mangrove islands
- Range
- Coastal: the Atlantic coast from New Jersey south, the Gulf Coast, and the Pacific coast, mainly California, with nonbreeding birds reaching British Columbia. Rarely strays to inland lakes, especially young birds in the Southwest in summer.
- Seasonal presence
- After breeding, flocks drift north along both the Atlantic and Pacific coasts, then return south to warmer waters for winter.
- Preferred conditions
- Feeds over shallow coastal water and nests on islands, either bare and rocky or covered with mangroves and other trees.
Behavior
- Diet
- Almost entirely fish, especially schooling fish such as menhaden, smelt, and anchovies, plus a few crustaceans. Pacific sardines are important in Southern California.
- Activity
- Dives bill-first from as high as 60–70 ft (18–21 m), scoops fish into its pouch, then tips its bill down to drain the water before swallowing. Some birds hang around piers and fishing boats for handouts.
- Social life
- Lives in flocks all year and flies low over the waves in lines or single file.
Life cycle
- Nest
- Nests in colonies on islands, on the ground or in shrubs, trees, or mangroves.
- Clutch size
- Usually 3 eggs (2–4)
- Incubation
- 28–30 days, by both parents
- Fledging
- Young in ground nests may leave at about 5 weeks and gather in groups; first flight comes at about 9–12 weeks or later
- Lifespan
- A captive bird lived more than 31 years
Name and classification
- About the name
- Five subspecies are recognized, including the California brown pelican on the Pacific coast and the Eastern brown pelican on the Atlantic and Gulf coasts. The larger Peruvian pelican of South America was once treated as a subspecies but is now a separate species.
Conservation
- IUCN Red List
- LCLeast ConcernLow risk of extinction
- Status
- DDT thinned eggshells from the 1950s to the 1970s, and by 1963 the species had vanished from Louisiana. Listed as federally endangered in 1970, it recovered after the 1972 DDT ban, was delisted in the Southeast in 1985, and across the rest of its range in 2009.
- Threats
- Fishing line and hooks, disturbance at nesting colonies, and oil spills such as Deepwater Horizon in 2010. In Southern California, crashes in Pacific sardine numbers have caused nesting failures.
Culture and stories
- Culture and stories
- It is Louisiana's state bird and appears on the state flag and seal.
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