Endangered Brown Pelicans on the Rebound

Endangered Brown Pelicans on the Rebound

Brown Pelicans live in the southern parts of North American coasts (and northern parts of the South American coasts). It is one of two species of bird that plunge-dive to catch food (the other is the closely related Peruvian Pelican). They soar off within 12 miles of the coast and dive from as high as 65 feet to stun prey, making a huge splash easily seen from shore, before scooping it up. It’s common for gulls to attempt stealing fish as the water is drained from their pouch.

The pelican was placed on the endangered species list with its status as critical. Between 1967 and 1974 the number of breeding pairs that could be found in Texas was only six to 10, due a couple factors of misguided human interference.

During the 1920 and 30s, fisherman thought the pelicans were competing for food and began killing adults and destroying nests found in the grass and trees. This stopped when their diet was found to be mostly menhaden and mullet, but the use of DDT proved a greater risk. The toxic chemical made its way into the water where it absorbed by plankton which is then accummulated by fish that feed on it. DDT interferes with the metabolization of calcium, which resulted in eggs with thin shells. This is problematic for the brown pelican because they incubate eggs by standing on them with their webbed feet.

As of 2009, populations were on the rebound since the use of DDT was banned and the Endangered Species Acts was enacted. Officials were considering removing the Brown Pelican from the national list and it is no longer listed in Florida, Alabama and other Atlantic coastal areas.

However, they are still concern enough to remain on the lists in Texas and Louisiana despite still being on a clear rebound. The Waterbird Conservation for the Americas estimates there are hundreds of thousands of nesting birds in North America and rates them 12 out of 20 on the Continental Concern Score.