The American White Pelican

Keep your eyes open for white pelicans as they have begun to arrive in the Tampa Bay area for their winter migration! White pelicans are one of the largest birds in the U.S. They can weigh as much as 30 pounds and their wingspans can exceed nine feet. Unlike our native brown pelicans, American white pelicans do not plunge-dive to feed. They feed while swimming and work together in groups to encircle and trap their prey, usually small fish or crustaceans. American white pelicans are highly dependent upon lakes, wetlands and coastal estuaries like Tampa Bay throughout their life cycles.

Source: Nature Conservancy

American White Pelican- The Basics from MyFWC

Appearance:

With a wingspan as great as nine and a half feet, the American white pelican is one of North America’s largest birds.

In flight, white pelicans have a graceful strong flight and usually fly in large flocks high in the air and in a V formation. Adults are a distinctive white with black wing tips. The bill, legs and toes are reddish-orange or pink.

Habitat:

Unlike the brown pelican, which is found year-round in Florida, and non-breeding white pelican juveniles, healthy adult white pelicans are winter visitors to the state. In the summer, white pelican adults breed in colonies on lakes in the interior of western Canada and the northwestern United States. Winters are spent in southern Mexico, southern California and along the Gulf Coast states of Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi and Florida.

Behavior:

White pelicans feed differently than brown pelicans. They do not plunge dive as brown pelicans do, instead white pelicans float on the surface, submerge their heads and scoop up fish. They also often fish cooperatively in small groups, herding the fish in front of them.

While brown pelicans within peninsular Florida usually nest in mangroves or other trees, white pelicans build nests right on the ground. They clear or scrape an area and rim it with dirt, sticks or other debris.

During the height of the plume trade in the late 1800s, the feathers of white pelicans were in demand, though they were not as coveted as the delicate plumes of herons and egrets. White pelicans and brown pelicans also suffered population declines in the 1960s and 1970s due to death from direct exposure to pesticides and from reproductive failure due to eggshell thinning. While populations have recovered from chemical contamination, pelicans of both species are still vulnerable to death and disfigurement resulting from entanglement in monofilament line.

Differences Between American White and Brown Pelicans from Critters360

Range

Brown pelicans prefer the west coast and spend their lives there. They perch on roofs and railing near wharfs and bodies of water. They live in most of the coastal areas of the United States and Mexico. The American pelican migrates from the Great Lakes where it breeds to the west coast to feed. White pelicans will fly over 150 miles to find food. They are graceful fliers and swimmers but awkward walkers.

Color

The brown pelican has a brown body and white or yellow head. Its large, bulbous and pointed beak makes it easy for the bird to scoop up fish. When the pelican has young, the head is white otherwise it is yellow. When it is a juvenile, the brown pelican has a grey-brown color. White pelicans are white with black wing tips. When the female has young, its head and neck acquire a little grey stripe.

Hunting Habits

Brown pelicans are fantastic divers. They dive for their fish from as far away as 65 feet. It uses its beak to catch the fish. The beak fills with water and fish. The pelican must sit on a perch or ground nearby because it cannot fly with a beak full of water. Besides fish these birds also eat carrion and the young of neighboring pelicans. White pelican sit on the surface of the water and beat it with their wings to chase the fish toward them. They do this as a group forming a net. They fish underwater grabbing fish as they enter their circle. American white pelican will eat salamanders, crayfish and tadpoles.

Size

Of the eight species of pelican, the brown pelican is the smallest pelican, and the American white pelican is the largest. Brown pelicans weigh in at seven pounds. White pelicans are fifteen to thirty pounds.

Both types of pelicans are comical to watch. Their appearance alone can bring a smile to the observer. These birds have differences but they also have similarities both nesting near water and eating fish and aquatic creatures. Because of close proximity to man, the birds have had threats to their food from pesticides and fishing hooks and lures.

Conservation Status (From the National Audubon Society)

Population Status Trends

The continental population of American White Pelicans declined throughout the first half of the 20th century. The species was considered threatened until the early 1960s, but has since made a substantial recovery. Christmas Bird Counts show increases, as do Breeding Bird Survey data, which indicate steadily and rapidly rising continental populations, which have increased at a rate of nearly four percent per year over the last 25 years. The most dramatic increases have taken place in Minnesota, North Dakota, and Wyoming. An explanation of the Annual Population Indices graph displayed to the right can be found here.

Conservation Issues

The future of the American White Pelican was in jeopardy until the early 1960s, due to the combined effects of changing water levels, contaminants, and human disturbance–including shooting the birds for sport or to “protect” fishing. Since the 1960s, protective legislation, improved conservation efforts, and greater public awareness have all contributed to reversing population declines. However, protection remains inadequate in some areas. Shooting remains the greatest single source of mortality reported from band returns. Conflicts with catfish farms in the southeastern United States are a more recent concern.

Human disturbance and destruction of foraging and breeding habitat are primary limiting factors for pelicans. Especially during courtship and early incubation, American White Pelicans are highly sensitive to human intrusions into breeding colonies, which can cause nest desertion.

Censusing and research activities must take pelicans’ susceptibility to human disturbance into account. Protection of breeding colonies, continued vigilance for pesticide and mercury contamination, and protection of nesting and foraging habitat from permanent flooding or drainage are all recommended.

Where nesting habitat is limited, the creation of nesting islands made from soil or dredged material, located well offshore for protection from predators and humans, has been successful. Fencing to reduce coyote predation at selected sites has also proven effective.

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