Pelicans

Brown Pelican

SPONSOR OPTIONS:

BROWN PELICANS : $250.00USD - yearly FEED THEM : $25.00USD - monthly

Brown Pelican

Under perfect conditions a pelican can live to be 30+ years old. A healthy adult pelican will weigh from 5 to 8 pounds. A wild pelican will consume 3 to 4 pounds of fish per day. A captive pelican will eat 1/2 to 2 pounds daily (depending on weather). In the wild, pelicans eat surface minnows (bait fish) by diving from the air. Pelicans use their pouch to catch fish, but they do not carry fish in their pouch. Pelicans quiver to assist in the metabolism of food. Brown Pelicans can fly up to 35 m.p.h. (calm winds). The wingspread of a pelican ranges from 6 to 7 feet (tip to tip). Male pelicans are larger than females and have longer bills. In Florida, Pelicans build their nests in mangrove trees out of twigs and grasses. Males and Females collect twigs and the females construct the nest. Both take turns sitting on the nest. 2 to 4 eggs are laid in the late winter or early Spring. After 30 days of incubation, by both males and females, the chick hatches. Pelicans feed their very young chicks regurgitated fish and later the older chicks feed from the parents pouch. Chicks are full grown and able to fly by 11-12 weeks of age. A Brown Pelican becomes sexually mature at 3-4 years of age. Immature pelicans are brown with a white body. Mature pelicans have a blackish belly with a silverish back. The chicks hatched by the permanently disabled pelicans at the Peace River Wildlife Center are free to leave when they are old enough to fly and care for themselves. Young pelicans learn to feed themselves by copying adults in the wild though some behavior may be instinctive. 95% of the pelicans brought to the Wildlife Center for care have been injured by man related incidents, usually fishing hooks and line. Natural enemies of the pelicans are man and occaisionally raccoons in the nesting colonies. A shark may get a pelican once in a great while, alligators and large turtles can also inflict injury. Pelicans are victims of oil spills, pesticides, fishing hooks, fishing lines, cars, boats, power lines and various freak accidents.

Be sure to stop by the Pelican Pond and see our Brown Pelicans on your next visit

American White Pelican

SPONSOR OPTIONS:

WHITE PELICANS : $250.00USD - yearly FEED THEM : $25.00USD - monthly

American White Pelican

The American White Pelican occurs mainly in western and southern portions of North America, breeding inland in colonies on remote islands and wintering along warm southern coasts. The species is of particular interest because of its large body size, conspicuos white and black coloration, graceful flight, highly developed cooperative foraging, and the somewhat comic proportions of its large bill and pouch. White Pelicans are most commonly seen at foraging and adjacent loafing sights where they are tolerant of human observers if not approached too closely. At breeding colonies, by contact, they are shy and prone to desert or to leave eggs and young exposed to predators if approached. Early spring migrants often arrive at colony sites before winter ice has left all surrounding waters. Courtship begins almost immediately, starting with aerial flights of often dozens of birds circling prospective breeding sites. Groups of newly paired birds at the same stage of the reproductive cycle then begin to form dense, synchronized nesting clusters or sub-colonies. As more birds arrive, additional sub-colonies form on other nearby portions of the colony, with the different sub-colonies commonly at different stages of the reproductive cycle. Upon matching, the altrical young are totally dependent on parents for food, warmth and protection. By about 3 weeks of age, they become more mobile, typically forming large overnight creches for protection and warmth while the parents stay at the foraging grounds except for trips to the colony to feed their young. Generally only one of the two young survives, the other being harassed or killed by its older nestmate, a form of siblicide.
FOOD:
Favored foraging sites are shallow marshes, rivers and lake edges where mainly fish of little commercial value are taken. White Pelicans obtain their food by dipping their bills into the water and scooping up prey. They do not plunge-dive from the air like Brown Pelicans. Like some of the Old World species of pelicans, White Pelicans are widely noted for their habit of cooperative foraging. Coordinated flocks of swimming birds encircle fish or drive them into the shallows where they become concentrated and can be more easily caught with synchronized bill dipping.
Conservation:
The continental population of White Pelicans was considered threatened until the early 1960's by combinations of changing water levels, human disturbance and possibly contaminants. The population has since recovered and continues to increase at 3% per year. These increases have created conflicts with the agriculture industry in the Southeastern United States in the last decade, especially during spring migration.

Be sure to stop by the Pelican Pond and see our American White Pelicans, "Bo-Bo and Be-Be" on your next visit