Beautiful Brown Pelicans!

The Tramps are taking a break at the Oregon coast. Today is the first day I can peer out our windows and see something other than rain sheeting down... And what a glorious sight there was for me. Great big beautiful brown pelicans! Herds, no, swarms, no, FLOCKS of them. Multiple groups of 20-30 birds gracefully riding the winds that blow fiercely here at the base of Cape Foulweather. Such huge birds with amazing wingspans and thick, squat bodies. They soar together obviously just for the sheer joy of riding the thermals. And they are so graceful in flight, each knowing just which way to turn or dive as they dance in the air together. But they are not so graceful coming in to land on the water. Yesterday we were watching them, between swipes of the windshield wipers, on Yaquina bay. They would come floating softly very low over the water and then kerplunk - down they would drop! Sometimes they were actually fishing and would be on the water but a few seconds before raising themselves up again and starting the same trip all over. The species that frequents the Oregon coast is Pelecanus occidentalis californicus, a western subspecies of the same group that inhabits the Atlantic and Gulf coasts. The smallest of the eight Pelecanus species worldwide, it measures up to 4 feet long and weighs 8 to 10 pounds. The brown pelican is an elegant hunter, a glider with excellent eyesight. It will fly low over the water until it spots a school of fish (around here, that’s often anchovy or sardines). The bird dives in, opens its bill and sucks in three gallons of fish and water. Later, the pelican filters out the water and is left with a tasty meal. They will eat up to 4 pounds of small fish a day - this is why it was so hard hit by the widespread use of DDT in the 1940s and 50s. The exposure resulted in eggs with thin shells that were unable to withstand the weight of the parent while incubating. This left crushed eggs instead of healthy chicks, and the West Coast population experienced what researchers called an “almost complete reproductive failure.” In 1970, using a law that preceded the Endangered Species Act of 1973, the brown pelican was listed as endangered by the USFWS. Today the brown pelican is being considered to be removed from that list due to the success of the recovery plan the service set in place back then to protect the bird’s breeding sites and other critical habitats . This was enhanced by the ban on the use of DDT and other similar pesticides and had an almost immediate effect on the pelican’s breeding success in California. And we are the recipients of the success - we have been coming to this same location since 1982 and have never seen such large populations of brown pelicans! What a wonderful sky show to wake up to! Carpe diem!!