BP Oil Spill Innocent Victims #22 and #23 -- Pelican Family

Just like the Acadian/Cajun people, the Brown Pelican have a long history of surviving against all odds. Sadly this time, we might have served them and the other fifty-eight birds who will be most affected by this BP Oil spill, the ultimate extinction meal. For the Brown Pelican, after years of being on the endangered species list, last year in 2009, they finally made it off the list no bird ever wants to be one. Yet, with this one disaster, their days could be once again numbered.

We've all been horrified as we are bombarded nightly with the pictures of members of the Pelican Family (Pelecanidae) helplessly covered in oil. For most Americans, or perhaps the world, they are among the most widely known faces of the innocent victims of this BP oil spill disaster. Yet, they are just one of so very many innocent faces of many species that are and will be harmed indefinitely.

The more shocking fact about these wonderful birds, is the condition of the brown pelican. It was once a common sight on the inshore islands and mud lumps at the mouth of the Mississippi. Then, back in the 1960s, it started disappearing from the Louisiana bayou country. Scientists now believe that this was a result of all of the pesticides that contaminated the food chain that the pelicans ate and remained, harmlessly, in the bird species fatty tissues. It lurked there until the pelicans were stressed, then the poisons surged through their bloodstreams into the brains and livers -- resulting in certain death.

Back then, fledgling pelicans from Florida were brought to the Louisiana to a marine research facility on Grand Terre Island, where small groups were carefully protected. At that time, the population was down to a mere 400.

It's no secret that the Brown Pelican (Pelecanus occidentalis) are the official state bird of Louisiana. It is part of the State Seal and appears on all official legal documents, right beside the motto "Union, Justice, and Confidence." Furthermore, Louisiana is spoken of as the "Pelican State," even though by no means is this unique and beloved bird confined to Louisiana's borders.

It's natural range is a wide one throughout the Gulf of Mexico and Caribbean areas, then up along the Atlantic. It is even found along the Atlantic and Pacific coasts from South Carolina and California to Brazil and Ecuador. One unique aspect of the Brown Pelican, is the fact that it seldom strays far from salt water.

The species is a common permanent resident in coastal Louisiana, nesting in colonies on several inshore islands and on the mud lumps at the mouths of the Mississippi River. On East Timbalier Island in the past, there were approximately 5,000 adults with their nests, eggs, and young. These are nests that are built of sticks on the ground.

Nearby, on North Island, in Chandleur Sound, back in the early 1940s, there were other such colonies in the low laying mangrove bushes. The pelican lays form one to three eggs, which can be off white or dirty brown in color. The young on hatching are naked, quite homely to the point of perhaps being faces only-a-mother-could love, at least until they are covered with white down feathers.

The adults feed their babies by swallowing fish and then regurgitating the partial digested food back into their pouch. The babies then, sticks its little head and bill into its parents pouch for its sustenance. They grow slowly, with it being months before they actually have feathers. It is even longer until they have their flight feathers.

A fully grown Brown Pelican have rich mahogany brown coloring along their front and back ample in length necks. The tops of their heads and the sides of their necks are white. Few notice, but it is always true that there are a few elongated feathers on the nape that give them a nuptial crest.

Brown Pelicans live entirely on fish. To catch their meals, they turn in a half roll. They plunge bill first into the water, and pretty much disappear from sight in the resulting splash. Their great pouch scoops up the prey and in do so, they also swallow a lot of water. However, this isn't much of a problem, because it throws its bill upward, contracts the pouch to squeeze the water back out the corners of their mouths. In the process, the fish is swallowed whole one big awkward gulp.

The brown pelican is surprisingly graceful despite it's odd appearance when soaring through the air. Yet, on land it is most awkward. It's is easy to recognize from a distance, since it's at least two and a half feet tall -- and the dead give-away that you are looking at a pelican is the scoop-like bill.

These are gentle birds, even if prehistoric looking. Their quest for fish makes for great amusement.

Pelicans are odd in the respect that despite their many unique features, over time they have lost all vocal powers.

The only sound you will ever hear from a pelican is a hissing, that is almost snake like, and then it will only be sounded when you are too near their nests.

Boobies and Gannets are relatives of pelicans, which they resemble outwardly less than they do sea gulls. Never-the-less, they are part of the Pelican family. The Gannet (Morus Bassanus) is the closest member of the pelican family, that is roughly about the size of a Brown Pelican.

You are more likely to see the Gannet than any other species of the pelican family in the northern Gulf waters.

While, almost never do they come close to shore, and they are especially put into danger as this oil spill comes onshore between Louisiana and Pensacola Beach, where they winter each year.

Gannets have longer necks than pelicans. Their large bill is slanted downward toward the water. They have a pointed tail, that is definitely not fan-shaped. Like their pelican cousins, they hit the water with a great splash when finding something to feast upon.

The adults are white with black wing tips, while the juveniles are sort of a brown gray, often flecked with white.