BROWN PELICANS CONTINUE TO DIE

By Debbie Bulloch



This is an update to a story I brought to you last month. (Recent Storms Kill And Injure Pelicans)

California Brown Pelicans continue to die off and scientists are at a loss for an explanation for the die off. The pelicans, according to marine biologists, have some sort of substance on them that appears to be causing the feathers to lose insulation value, resulting in cold and hypothermic birds. Contaminated pelicans cannot float on the water so they simply sink. Additionally, the pelicans’ water soaked feathers make the birds heavier than usual making it harder for the birds to launch into flight.

Pelicans have been found in neighborhoods near beaches - they are often disoriented and hungry. Since mid-January the birds, many of them already dead, have been washing up on United States shores from southern California to southern Oregon.

Preliminary necropsy results show starvation has been a factor in the deaths. Scientists believe that there is a combination of factors that have worked to adversely impact on the pelicans. One of the factors involved, according to scientists, is this year’s El Niño. In addition to creating more frequent and violent storms, the weather patterns created by El Niño tend to drive the pelican's food sources into deeper than normal waters. Additionally, toxic run off from the recent storms may have contaminated the pelicans’ feather destroying their normal buoyancy.

Toxic runoff in California comes from farms, industry and municipal runoff, as well as soil erosion. Pollutants range from pieces of garbage to chemical pollutants and pathogens.

Sick and distressed Brown Pelicans have been reported all along the Unites States Pacific coast up to Oregon, where officials advised residents not to feed the starving birds. The Project Leader from the Oregon Coast National Wildlife Refuge Complex told reported that, "In one parking lot, there were people in cars surrounded by pelicans asking for food. We have never seen that before. These birds literally have lost all fear of humans."

The Brown Pelican is the only diving pelican. They feed on sardines, mackerel and anchovies. The California Brown Pelican was decimated by DDT back in the 1970s, forcing the government to place them on the endangered species list. Efforts to save the bird were successful, and last year the California Brown Pelican was removed from the endangered species list. (Pelicans Off The Endangered Species List)

PELICAN PATROL IN ACTION



If you wish to find out more about how to help brown pelicans, please go to the Pelican Project page from the International Bird Rescue Research Center.

EDITOR’S NOTE: This is the 300th post on the Between Homes blog. It has been a pleasure writing and editing the blog. The last time that I “googled” the term “Between Homes” our blog came in at number 8, out of a total of 191,000,000 similar terms. Not bad for a little blog!

A big “thank you” goes to all of you who have contributed your comments and articles to the blog - and an especially HUGE thank you to all of you who make time to follow the blog.

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