Pelican Primer: Kayaking with Brown Pelicans

Summer 2009

Wildlife

This is an article from WaveLength Magazine, available in print in North America and globally on the web.

To download a pdf copy of the magazine click here: DOWNLOAD

By James Michael Dorsey

The corner of my eye catches a blurred streak crashing into the water, and I know my old friend the brown pelican is fishing.

Summer plumage.

Winter plumage.

Acting tough.

It is a rare paddling day that I am not surrounded by these huge coastal seabirds that have become so habituated to man they usually allow my kayak to approach within feet as they bob on the surface between dives.

Those of us who frequent the water have all seen them hurtling their bodies at impossible speed into the briny blue and have probably asked, “How do they do that without a brain injury or a headache at least?”

Pelicanus occidentalis, commonly known as the brown pelican, is the smallest of eight species of pelicans but among the largest of seabirds. At 42 to 54 inches tall, with a wingspan of 6 to 8 feet, it is second in size only to the great albatross, and yet with its compact stocky body and long beak, it manages to be both dramatic and comical at the same time.

They live 25 to 30 years, reaching their mature feathered plumage at about three years. And while an adult pelican weighs only about 12 pounds, it will consume roughly a third of its body weight daily in small herring-type fish.

The brown pelican has a long, twisted neck that has the seventh and ninth vertebrae fused, thus prohibiting it from straightening that long neck. It ends in a 12-inch beak with an expandable pouch, which is the fleshy lower part of its jaw and the largest pouch of any known bird.

So, about those head-crunching dives: the pelican is a plunge feeder that cruises over the water watching for the silver flash of baitfish near the surface. It then tucks its wings and legs, diving headfirst like a kamikaze into the water. The deeper the fish the higher the pelican will begin its dive, and has been known to fall from as high as 100 feet. They are unique among sea birds in that they have air sacs in their clavicle and under the skin that absorbs much of the impact of these plunges. Watching a hundred of these birds fishing at a time is a majestic sight.

Once it breaks the surface, it expands the large pouch that can take in as much as three gallons of water and fish, acting like a large scoop, and then throws its head back to drain the water out through side slits in the beak. The pelican will swallow the fish whole as it has no teeth and always eats immediately after the catch rather than transporting fish in its beak. It is common to see gulls trying to pull fish from the pelican's pouch, often sitting on its head to do so as the pelican is a most inoffensive animal and allows these scavengers great latitude in stealing its work.

Pelicans often travel in flocks consisting of both male and female, and love to fly in a V formation, taking turns drafting on the wings of the lead bird (think NASCAR). From these formations they strafe the waves in search of food, and it is common to find dozens of them hunting in a small area.

They are not taught to hunt by their parents but learn to do so by trial and error. Immature birds do not fare well due to this lack of experience, and it is believed that almost one third of yearling birds starve to death because of this. As a result they are also great scavengers who haunt docks and fishing launches looking for handouts – one reason why they often approach my kayak.

Their nesting and breeding habits are the really cool part.

These birds tend to gather in large colonies sometimes called a rookery, and nest very close to each other. The male will pick a nesting area, sometimes on the ground and sometimes in a tree. He will court the female with an elaborate series of head movements, trying to not be so aggressive she is frightened away. The female will take a couple days to make up her mind, (does this sound familiar?) acting coy, but also being aggressive enough to show other male suitors her interest in the original head bobber.

In a large rookery, this mating dance can get quite comical, almost like being on a disco floor in the ’70s. Also during this ritual they are known to make a popping sound that is the result of them snapping their jaws.

If she is interested, the male will bring her sticks, branches and twigs (and what female can refuse a free tree branch?) that she will begin to weave together into a nest. Sometimes the nest can get very elaborate, especially those in the trees. It can take as long as ten days for this job to be completed and the lovebirds then move in.

Once the happy couple has taken up residency, the first of three eggs will appear within three days, with a day between each egg. Both parents will take turns incubating the eggs. Since the pelican has extremely vascularized legs and feet (lots of blood vessels), this keeps the eggs warm until they hatch in about one month.

At birth the chicks are totally helpless and the parents will feed them by regurgitating food onto the floor of the nest for them to peck at. At about ten days, they have begun to grow feathers and will also begin to take regurgitated food directly from the parent’s beak at this time. If food is scarce only the strongest chick will be fed to assure its survival and the others will pass away. The chick needs to eat a lot to store body fat because at just 11 weeks he or she is ready to face the world on its own.

Immature birds are known to make a raspy croaking scream but as adults they are mostly mute except during mating.

So now that you have the basics, it is time for the really unusual facts.

You would think because of its enormous pouch the pelican would also have a large tongue, but in fact it is about the size of a toothpick. Because it has to swallow fish whole, a large tongue would just get in the way. It also uses that long beak to gather oils from glands at the base of its tail to preen and waterproof its feathers. For areas it cannot reach with its beak, the bird has a serrated middle nail on its webbed foot that takes care of this job.

When the pelican gets too hot it will open its pouch and flutter the sides, causing an air flow to evaporate surface moisture. This is a cooling process similar to humans sweating.

They are the rare sea bird that actually drinks saltwater. They have no nostrils but instead have glands that reside between the eyes and beak that allow them to distill the saltwater and pass the brine off in large droplets. Gulls have this same ability.

The only real enemy these birds have is man. During the 1960s DDT almost made them extinct, but fortunately they made a comeback and today their numbers are climbing.

Because they never pass up a free meal I have had them approach me for an occasional anchovy that I often scoop out of the water to feed them, and once I had a very tired youngster make a crash landing on my deck. He got twisted under my deck bungee and took a header into the drink. He was completely embarrassed until I could free his captive webbies.

Observing these unique creatures has taught me a great deal about the interconnection between man, animals and the ocean, and I consider them a paddling partner to be appreciated.

James Michael Dorsey can be reached at whalekeeper@yahoo.com