Brown pelicans - The comeback kids

If you hang around, kayak or hike Graham Creek for any length of time, you are bound to see a Brown pelican. If you do, you are looking at a bird that was born on Gaillard Island in Mobile Bay, because that is the only Brown pelican rookery in Alabama. Gaillard Island was named after a Mobile dentist who was an environmental advocate. It's the triangular island shown below in the middle of Mobile Bay.

Beginning in the 1940’s, Americans used pesticides, especially DDT, to kill insects on crops. These pesticides ran off into waters, contaminating fish populations. Birds, like Brown pelicans, that ate those fish were decimated. Pesticides made eggshells so thin they would break during incubation. Historically, pelicans were slaughtered for hat feathers, and because commercial fisherman saw them as competition for fish. In the 60’s, you wouldn’t see a Brown pelican here. They had all but disappeared from the Alabama and Louisiana coasts. The Brown pelican was put on the endangered species list in 1970.

In 1979, Gaillard Island was created as a disposal island for a ship channel made to connect Mobile Bay and Theodore Industrial Park where a navy port was built. It was built by the US Army Corps of Engineers. At the time, the project was controversial. The engineers thought the island would not hold up in an open body of water and the environmentalists were concerned about the impact on the bay from an ecological standpoint.

In this picture you can see the riprap that was used along the shoreline to ensure the island didn't just wash away. If it had Mangroves, they would serve the same purpose with their strong root systems.

The island has been a success from the onset and has become an environmental showcase, home to thousands of birds, particularly brown pelicans. There are some 10,000 nests on the island — nests to several bird species. Brown pelicans have made an amazing comeback. They were taken off the endangered species list in 1985, and they are no longer threatened.

But back to the pelicans…

Genuine home stayers, Brown pelicans don’t generally migrate, and stay close to coastal waters. They eat fish, fish and more fish - almost exclusively menhaden, which are an extremely valuable fish. Menhaden are filter feeders that form tight schools and swim slowly with open mouths, taking in phytoplankton and zooplankton. They provide food for many species of birds and fish. Menhaden hatch and grow in estuarial waters, so it’s common to see younger pelicans in Graham Bayou diving shallowly in the abundant schools of small Menhaden.

The Brown Pelican is the smallest pelican in the world. Even so, its wingspan is 6 to 7 feet. It is a long lived animal. A banded one in Florida was recorded to live over 30 years. Of course, the coolest thing about pelicans are their pouches. Called the gular pouch, it can hold three gallons of fish and water. When the pelican dives for fish, it scoops fish and water. It then closes its beak and compresses its pouch so that the water pours out from both sides, and swallows the fish. To feed its young, it regurgitates fish back into its pouch and lets the chicks dig in.

These chicks are so dinosaur!

One more cool thing about the Brown pelican: It really changes colors as it ages. Chicks on the nest are whitish with some gray and light brown patches. First year pelicans are dark, with dark heads. Adults develop light heads - from whitish to yellowish, depending on whether it’s breeding. So if you see a pelican with a chocolate brown head, you can tell it’s a juvenile.

Below is definitely an adult! The picture was taken at Graham Creek.

White pelicans

Alabama provides home to many White Pelicans, but they are rarely seen outside of Mobile Bay, and are migrating visitors from the North, here only for a few winter months. If you see a pelican dive from the air, it is a Brown pelican. If you think a pelican looks pretty light colored and are wondering which species it is, unless it’s on the water and super bright white, it’s probably a Brown pelican. White pelicans look like floating islands out in the bay, and dive from the water’s surface, not from the air. I once saw a circle of white pelicans that had been joined by a confused young brown pelican. I don’t know if he stuck around and learned their ways.

This blog isn’t comprehensive. just put in the stuff I think is really cool about the Brown pelican here in Alabama. I hope you’ll research more!