Tag Archives: Brown Pelican

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Pepe Alvarez photographed a Brown Pelican soaring. They seem to fly so effortlessly, using updrafts near the bluffs.

A Brown Pelican soars by Pepe Alvarez An adult Brown Pelican by Pepe Alvarez

This year Brown Pelicans did not breed in great numbers. The estimate is only 1% of the normal amount of eggs were laid. The theory is the burgeoning El Nino is to blame. Their normal food source down in Baja was not available this year and most Brown Pelicans did not successfully breed. As they are long-lived birds, taking one year off is not a cause for worry.

Thanks to Pepe for allowing me to share his beautiful photos with you here.

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Patrick Killen caught the moment just before this Brown Pelican plunged into the Pacific Ocean.

Fish were milliseconds from being caught by this pelican. The force of the pelican's impact in the water actually stuns the fish and then the pelican simply scoops them up.

Adult Brown Pelicans are mostly silent. To hear the sound of a young one calling to be fed, here is the link to the Cornell Lab of Ornithology: http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Brown_Pelican/sounds

Thanks to  Patrick for allowing me to share his great photo with you here.

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Brown Pelicans are on the move. The first adults have been seen over the past two weeks. Just yesterday, Rick and I saw several flocks fly by when we were at Gualala Point Regional Park getting a geology lesson from Ken Browning. I'll be sharing some of what we learned in a later post.

The first Brown Pelicans spotted are adults. One of the indicators is that their head is white. Paul Brewer photographed one of the first to be seen on April 30.

We particularly cherish these birds because they were so severely impacted by the pesticide DDT that they landed on the Endangered Species List. DDT was banned in the US in 1973 and Brown Pelicans have slowly added to their numbers. They recovered enough to be taken off the Endangered Species List in 2009.
Hooray for the Brown Pelicans!

Thanks to Paul for allowing me to share his photo with you here. To see much more of Paul's photography, here is his website: http://www.capturingnatureswonders.com/

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Brown Pelicans are headed south and some of the males are in breeding plumage. Shirley Arora photographed one such Brown Pelican down by the Point Arena Pier.

To hear the call of this bird, here's the link to the Cornell Lab of Ornithology: http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Brown_Pelican/id

Thanks to Shirley for allowing me to share her photo with you here.

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One thing I very much appreciate about Tom Eckles is his promise that his photos reflect exactly what he was seeing. No Photoshop and even no cropping. He saw this Brown Pelican silhouetted in the blue sky and captured this photograph.

Could the sky be bluer? Just beautiful. Thanks to Tom for allowing me to share his photo with you here. To see more of Tom's photography, here's his web site: tomeckles.com

A young Brown Pelican was hanging around the pier at Point Arena this week. We were concerned because this is abnormal behavior. Well-meaning folks probably were feeding it. That is not good for the Pelican because it needs to learn to fish for itself and can only do so by practice, practice, practice. Luckily the juvenile bird flew off. We do love the elegant Brown Pelicans!