Brown Pelican
Pelecanus occidentalis
A pelican that dives for its dinner, head first, from high above the sea.
Most pelicans fish while floating, dipping their bills into the water. The brown pelican dives: it spots fish from high in the air, folds its wings and plunges in, then scoops them up in the stretchy pouch under its bill. In the middle of the last century it disappeared from parts of North America because of a pesticide called DDT, and came back once DDT was banned.
On the conservation status
Least Concern on the IUCN Red List, with an estimated 300,000 or more birds. In the United States it was listed as endangered in 1970. It recovered first along the Atlantic coast, where it came off the list in 1985, and everywhere else by 2009.
- Length
- 1–1.5 m (3.3–5 ft)
- Wingspan
- 2–2.3 m (6.7–7.5 ft)
- Weight
- 2–5 kg (4.4–11 lb)
- Bill
- 28–35 cm (11–14 in) long
- Diet
- Anchovies, sardines and other small fish
- Eggs
- 2–3, hatching after about a month
The good stuff.
Dive-bomber
A brown pelican watches the sea from as high as 20 m. When it spots a school of fish, it folds its wings back and drops almost straight down, hitting the water with a splash you can see from far away.
Built-in airbags
Air sacs under the skin of its chest cushion the crash into the water, and help it pop back up to the surface afterwards.
A net, not a shopping bag
The pouch is for catching, not carrying. It scoops up fish and water together, then the pelican tips its bill down to drain the water before swallowing. That's when gulls try to steal the fish, sometimes by landing right on its head.
The eggshell problem
In the 1950s and 60s, a pesticide called DDT washed into the sea and built up in the fish pelicans ate. It made their eggshells so thin that parents crushed them just by sitting on them. After the United States banned DDT in 1972, pelicans came back.
Dressed up for breeding
In breeding season, pelicans on the Pacific coast get a white and yellow head, a dark chestnut neck and a bright red patch on the pouch. The red fades to black while they sit on their eggs.
A Gulf of California nursery
Most of the brown pelicans on the Pacific coast of North America nest on islands in the Gulf of California, laying their eggs on the ground or in low bushes.
Wait, really?
- ✦
Pelicans often fly in a line just above the waves, gliding on the air pushed up by the water.
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It's the national bird of Barbados, Saint Kitts and Nevis, and the Turks and Caicos Islands.
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In Mexico it's called pelícano pardo.
What it sounds like
Almost none. Grown-up brown pelicans are nearly silent, apart from low grunts at the nest. It's the chicks that squawk.
We haven't found a recording we're allowed to share yet, so for now this one is a description.
Where you might see one
Harbours, piers and beaches all along Mexico's coasts, including La Paz and Cabo San Lucas, and along California, Florida and the Gulf of Mexico.
The trouble
- Fishing line and hooks, which tangle wings and pouches
- Oil spills
- Food shortages when sardines and anchovies crash
- Disturbance at nesting islands
One real thing
If your family fishes, never leave line or hooks behind, and never feed pelicans. Birds that learn to hang around people fishing are the ones that get hooked and tangled.
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