Brown pelicans back from the brink

11/18/2009

A brown pelican/ Credit NOAA Restoration Center/Louise Kane

Finally some more good news in the world of wildlife! The brown pelican (Pelecanus occidentalis) has returned from the brink, and the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service announced last week that the species is no longer an endangered or threatened species. The large brown fish-eating birds declined precipitously in the 1960s due largely to the chemical pesticide DDT, which caused their eggshells – along with many other bird species - to soften. That meant fewer babies, and the birds suffered almost complete reproductive failure in some places.

After Rachel Carson’s infamous manifesto against the downfalls of pesticides, Silent Spring, the government ultimately banned DDT in 1972. Brown pelicans have since made a slow, but steady recovery.  Back in 1985, the FWS removed several populations of brown pelican – including those in Alabama, Georgia, and the Atlantic coast – from the endangered species list. On November 11th, 2009 they removed the remaining populations – including the Gulf Coast and the Pacific coast populations – in a press conference held in New Orleans. Louisiana is sometimes known as the “pelican state.”

I was fascinated to learn that the brown pelican played a significant role in the creation of America's entire National Wildlife Refuge system. German immigrant Paul Kroegel was appalled at the slaughter of the pelicans for their feathers, and approached President Theodore Roosevelt about the situation. The President agreed, and created the Pelican Island National Wildlife Refuge in Florida in 1903. Kroegel became the first refuge manager there. Though feather harvesting for women’s hats had long since ceased, the pelican was no match for DDT in the 1960s. A single pelicans can eat up to four pounds of fish per day, much of which was laced with DDT. In addition, fishermen used to blame the piscivorous birds for competing with their fisheries harvests and would kill them. Studies showed pelicans did not substantially affect commercial fishing and that helped stop such wholesale slaughter.

In the last decade, to help fully recover the pelicans along the Gulf Coast, Texas Parks & Wildlife Department and The Nature Conservancy and many other organizations teamed up to restore nesting sites, monitor rookeries, and even introduced some birds from Florida to bolster their populations. It has been heralded a success.

Pelicans are cool birds. There are eight species worldwide, with the brown and American white pelican in the United States. The brown pelican is the smallest of the eight species. FWS estimates the current global population of brown pelicans at approximately 650,000 animals, and around 12,000 breeding pairs live on the Gulf Coast - which was one of the last places they were recovering from. The birds live up to 30 years, and nest in large breeding colonies. The male brings nest material to the female, who can build her nest in trees, or on the ground. And they have super keen eyesight; one can spot a fish in the water below from 60 to 70 feet in the air! Congratulations to the pelicans!