Pelicans in the United States
The Brown pelican and the American white pelican are the two species of pelicans found in the United States.
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It is a large white bird, weighing up to twenty pounds. It also has an orange bill and black feathers on the bottom of the wings. The wing span can reach ten feet.
The Brown pelican is primarily a coastal bird, generally smaller than the American white pelican. There are a couple of different sub-species in the United States.
The Eastern Brown pelican (Pelecanus occidentalis carolinensis) is the most common subspecies found in the East and Gulf coast regions. The California Brown pelican (Pelecanus occidentalis californicus) is the West Coast version. Both subspecies are characterized by their brown color, with adults having a white face.
White and brown pelican species share many traits in common. Both are known for their long bills and pouches. In fact, the typical pelican bill is about eighteen inches long, making it the largest in the bird world. Both pelican species are almost exclusively fish eaters, and they use their beak and pouch as their primary fishing tool.
While both species are fishing birds, one very interesting difference between them is their fishing habits. White pelicans are known to fish in small groups, swimming along the shallow edges of the lakes and marshes they inhabit. Typically they swim together in order to herd fish into shallow water areas, making it relatively easy to scoop them into their pouches. Brown pelicans are the aerial acrobats of the family. No one who has watched them diving head first into the water to catch fish will soon forget the sight.
Both species are also known as colony nesters. They are very social birds that build ground nests on isolated islands away from human and other predators. Depending on which nesting sites you visit, pelican populations can range between a couple of dozen to a couple of thousand pairs. Brown pelicans are the salt water birds, and their nests are found on islands and cliffs along the coast. American White pelicans are the fresh water breeders of the family. They breed in inland lakes around the Midwest and Western United States, with some breeding sites registered as far north as Canada.
The Brown pelican was on the verge of extinction in the 1960s. Like many larger birds, the pelicans consumed fish contaminated by the pesticide DDT. As the chemicals in the DDT accumulated in breeding pelicans, it caused them to lay eggs with thin shells, making it almost impossible for the eggs to properly incubate young chicks. The brown pelican was listed as an endangered species in 1970. With some hard work, the eastern populations recovered, and by 1985, brown pelicans on the Atlantic coast, Florida and Alabama were removed from the list. In May 2006, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service began a twelve month review process to determine if the California brown pelican should also be removed from the list.
© 2006. Patricia A. Michaels