Brown Pelican (Birds)

ORDER

Pelecaniformes

FAMILY

Pelecanidae

GENUS & SPECIES

Pelecanus occidentalis
Brown Pelican

KEY FEATURES

• Heavyweight hunter that patrols coastlines of the Americas in large aerial formations
• only pelican species that skydives into the sea to scoop up fish
• opens its bill and unfurls a huge throat pouch, like a fisherman’s net, to trap prey
• Widespread and common, it’s a visitor to tourist beaches

WHERE IN THE WORLD?

on the east and west coasts of the Americas, from california and the carolinas, south to northern chile and northeastern Brazil; also found on the Galapagos Islands and most caribbean islands
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Lifecycle

With its madcap crashing dives and billowing throat pouch, the brown pelican is less than elegant when feeding, yet it plunders fish from coastal waters with ruthless efficiency.

HABITAT

The brown pelican is a bird of coastlines, seldom wandering more than a few miles to inland lagoons or venturing out to sea beyond sight of the shore. Though its ties to the ocean fringe are strictly
defined, its choice of coastline homes is broad. In its range in the Americas, it’s found on rocky shores in Baja California, among the mangrove swamps of Belize, along beach resorts in the Caribbean and on islets off western South America. Parties of brown pelicans in flight are also a familiar sight along many tourist beaches and even over coastal cities.
^ Warm waters Brown pelicans inhabit only warm coastal waters.
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CONSERVATION

While the brown pelican remains a common sight in many parts of its range, persecution and water pollution by humans have taken their toll on some populations. In the U.S., accumulation of pesticides in the marine food chain caused the species to decline in the 1950s and 60s. In the past, commercial fishermen attempted to exterminate some colonies in the false belief that the birds wiped out fish stocks.

FOOD & HUNTING

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BEHAVIOR

A Smooth glider The pelican flies with slow, powerful wingbeats broken by frequent glides.
Brown pelicans are sociable birds that feed, roost and nest together. Though sighted alone or in small groups, they also gather in flocks (up to 70 birds).
Typically, a pelican spends much of its time at rest, floating on the water surface, standing on the shoreline or perched on rocks or in trees. When it settles on land and shuffles about on perches on its large webbed feet, the pelican seems a clumsy bird. But when airborne, it has unexpected grace, soaring high on updrafts or skimming low over the water with consummate ease.
A Smooth glider The pelican flies with slow, powerful wingbeats broken by frequent glides.
The brown pelican sometimes catches food by lunging down from the surface, but is renowned for its diving prowess. A pelican looking for prey flies 10-30′ above the sea — a sufficient drop to carry the bird just below the surface to snatch its meal. To dive, the pelican stalls in flight and plunges headlong into the water Moments later; it returns to the surface, drains the water from its bulging pouch, then swallows the fish it has caught.
Fish are the mainstay of the pelican’s diet, but at docks and fishing boats, it feeds on fish offal. It also consumes other animal scraps, as well as injured chicks at its breeding colony.

SKYDIVERS

Flying high
1 Flying high
A flock of hungry brown pelicans flies a few feet above the sea’s surface, looking for signs of shoaling fish swimming below.
Free fall...
2 Free fall…
Sighting a shoal near the surface, each bird twists in the air, folds its broad wings, targets a fish and plummets into the water.
Despite their sociability, adult pelicans make few contact calls; these are limited to clucking sounds.
# On Peru’s coast, centuries’ old deposits of pelican droppings are mined and used as fertilizer.
Fast and hard
3 Fast and hard…
Traveling fast, the birds hit the water with a resounding splash.An air sac under the skin of the chest cushions the force of the impact.
Fish treat
4 Fish treat
As a pelican enters the water, it opens its bill and extends its pouch like a large trap to engulf fish and water.
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BREEDING

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Nesting colonies may be located on the ground on secluded islands, on a series of rock ledges or in trees. A male makes the first move at breeding time, seeking out a nest site and trying to attract mates with ritualized movements of its head and bill. If successful, the male then presents the female with sticks and other plant matter from which she builds a nest.
The clutch contains two or three eggs, which hatch after an incubation period of 30 days. The chicks are provided with regurgitated fish food by each parent and after a few weeks, are strong enough to walk. Parents continue to feed their young for several weeks more until, at about 2 weeks old, they gain their flight feathers and are ready to start fishing for themselves.
Standing guard Brown pelican chicks are featherless on hatching, but soon gain down.

Profile

Brown Pelican

The brown pelican surveys coastal waters in large squadrons, crashing into the sea below to “bag” fish by expanding its spacious throat pouch.
Brown Pelican

CREATURE COMPARISONS

The brown pelican is an unusual color among pelicans, which, like the Australian pelican, Pelecanus conspicillatus, usually have mostly white plumage. Both birds grow small crests on their heads in the breeding season; the Australian pelican’s pouch gets pinker This pelican is larger, reaching 6′ in length, bill tip to tail.
The Australian pelican fishes not by plunging into the water from the air like the brown pelican, but by swimming on the surface and dipping its bill underwater Gregarious, it occurs along much of the Australian andTasmanian coastline, but also lives in freshwater habitats well inland.
Australian pelican
Australian pelican
Brown pelican
Brown pelican

VITAL STATISTICS
Weight 8 lbs.
Length 4-5′
Wingspan 9′
Sexual Maturity 2-3 years
Breeding | Season Varies with location
Number of Eggs 2 or 3
. Incubation Period 30 days
Fledging Period 11-12 weeks
‘ Breeding 1 Interval 1 year
Typical 1 Diet Mainly fish; occasionally carrion and nestlingsiV’ .
Lifespan 15-25 years

RELATED SPECIES

• The brown pelican is 1 of 7 pelican species : in the genus Pelecanus. The others are the i white, American white, pink-backed, spot-billed, I Australian and Dalmatian pelicans. The brown pelican is the smallest. l Pelecanidae, the pelican family, is in a large order of fish-eating waterbirds.Pelecaniformes, including cormorants, darters, tropicbirds, gannets, boobies and frigatebirds.

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