The Brown Pelican (Pelecanus occidentalis) is a small pelican found in the Americas. It is one of the best known and most prominent birds found in the coastal areas of the southern and western United States.
It is one of only 3 pelican species found in the Western Hemisphere.
The Brown Pelican is only one of the two pelican species which feeds by
diving into the water.
Unique among the world's seven species of pelicans, the Brown Pelican is
found along the ocean shores and on only a few inland lakes in the
southwestern U.S. It is the only dark pelican, and also the only one
that plunges from the air into the water to catch its food.
Description
The Brown Pelican the smallest of the eight species of pelican,
although it is a large bird in nearly every other regard. It is 106–137
cm (42–54 in) in length, weighs from 2.75 to 5.5 kg (6.1 to 12 lb) and
has a wingspan
from 1.83 to 2.5 m (6.0 to 8.2 ft). Through most of its range, the
brown pelican is an unmistakable bird. Like all pelicans, this species
has a very large bill, 28 to 34.8 cm (11 to 13.7 in) long in this case,
with a gular pouch on the bottom for draining water when it scoops out
prey.
The head is white but often gets a yellowish wash in adult birds. The
bill is grayish overall in most birds, though breeding birds become
reddish on the underside of the throat. The back, rump, and tail are
streaked with gray and dark brown, sometimes with a rusty hue. In adult
pelicans, the breast and belly are a blackish-brown and the legs and
feet are black. The juvenile is similar but has a brownish-gray neck and
white underparts.
This bird is readily distinguished from the American White Pelican by its non-white plumage, smaller size and its habit of diving for fish from the air, as opposed to co-operative fishing from the surface. The Peruvian Pelican,
previously considered a subspecies of Brown Pelican, is now considered
to be a separate species. It has very similar plumage to the Brown, but
it is noticeably larger. The Brown and Peruvian pelicans may overlap in
some areas along the Pacific coast of South America.
Cool Facts
While
the Brown Pelican is draining the water from its bill after a dive,
gulls often try to steal the fish right out of its pouch. They sometimes
even perch on the pelican's head or back and reach in. The pelican
itself, however, is not above stealing fish from other seabirds. It also
follows fishing boats and hangs around piers for handouts.
The
Brown Pelican frequently lowers its head onto its shoulders with the
bill open, pulls its head back, and stretches the pouch over its throat
and neck. The exposed neck looks like a large lump sticking up out of
the pouch.
Unlike most birds, which warm their eggs with the
skin of their breasts, pelicans incubate their eggs with their feet.
They hold the eggs under the webs that stretch from the front toes to
the hind toe, essentially standing on the eggs to warm them. This
peculiar incubation method made them vulnerable to the effects of the
pesticide DDT. The DDT made the eggshells thin, and the incubating
parents frequently cracked their eggs.
The Peruvian race of the
Brown Pelican, found along the Pacific Coast of South America from
southern Ecuador to Chile, is sometimes considered a separate species.
It is larger than the other races, has fine white streaking on the
feathers of the underparts, and has a blue pouch in the breeding season.
Otherwise, it looks and acts like a Brown Pelican, found in similar
coastal environments and plunge-diving for food.
Length
39.4–53.9 in
100–137 cm
Wingspan
78.7 in
200 cm
Weight
70.5–176.4 oz
2000–5000 g
Other Names
Grand gosier, Pélican brun (French)
Alcatraz, Pelícano café, Pelícano pardo (Spanish)
Habitat
The brown pelican can be found in coastal areas like sandy beaches and
lagoons. It can also be found around waterfronts and marinas.
Food
Fish and some marine invertebrates.
Nesting
Large flat nest of sticks lined with grasses or leaves. Placed in short
trees, shrubs, or on ground. Nests in colonies, often with herons and
other waterbirds.
Clutch Size
1–4 eggs
Egg Description
Chalky white
Condition at Hatching
Pink, naked, and helpless.
Behaviour
Pelicans are very gregarious birds; they live in flocks of both sexes
throughout the year. They are exceptionally buoyant due to the internal
air sacks beneath their skin and in their bones, and as graceful in the
air as they are clumsy on land. In level flight, pelicans fly in
groups, with their heads held back on their shoulders, the bills resting
on their folded necks. They may fly in a "V", but usually in regular
lines or single file, often low over the water's surface.
When forage, pelicans fly to a considerable height over a school of fish
and then dive at a high speed into the water, often completely
submerging itself below the surface as it quickly snaps up its prey
before it can swim away. The pelican then comes back to the surface and
spills the water out of its throat pouch that had been caught in the
plunge and then throw back their head to swallow the prey. Only the
Peruvian Pelican shares this active foraging style, while other pelicans
forage more inactively by scooping up corralled fish while swimming on
the surface of the water. Juvenile brown pelicans have been observed
foraging in the surface-swimming matter of other pelicans. They are
occasional targets of Kleptoparasitism by other fish-eating birds such as gulls, skuas and frigatebirds.
Although the Brown Pelican eats mostly fish, an occasional amphibian or crustacean may supplement the diet. Menhaden may locally account for 90-95% of their food. The anchovy supply is particularly important to the nesting success of the Brown Pelican. However, their preferred prey are usually not commercially fished species. Other fish preyed on with some regularity can include pigfish, pinfish, herring, sheepshead, silversides, mullet, and minnows, and they sometimes eat crustaceans, usually prawns. A single adult pelican can eat up to 1.8 kg (4.0 lb) each day.
Today, in many coastal areas, Brown Pelicans will loaf around fishing
ports and piers in hopes of being fed or stealing scraps of fish,
especially if conditioned to do.
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