By Jay Holcomb,
IBRRC
Each year IBRRC’s aquatic bird rehabilitation program, operating out of Fairfield (Northern California) and San Pedro (Southern California), receives hundreds of California Brown Pelicans in need of rehabilitation.
Since its beginning in 1971, IBRRC has worked hard to become the premier brown pelican rehabilitation organization on the west coast of the US.
In 2008, IBRRC took in 577 injured, sick or oiled brown pelicans and released 280 pelicans back into the wild. The bird centers collectively take in from 400 to 600 California Brown Pelicans annually.
Brown pelicans are easily recognized by the public and, like penguins, they are one of the other species of bird that the public has a close affinity with. This is most likely due to their large size, prehistoric look, graceful maneuvers and flight abilities and their close proximity to people who frequent the California coastline.
The California Brown Pelican has been down a tough road during the last 50 years. Almost brought to extinction when the pesticide DDT was found to thin their eggshells, phenomena that caused annual pelican production at nesting colonies to hit an all time low. (See: History) Because of the effects of DDT, the Brown Pelican was listed as a federally listed endangered species in the early 1970’s and after three decades of conservation they made a significant comeback and in 2008 were removed from U.S. federally listed as an endangered species. This is a great conservation story but we should not be too comfortable with their new status as a “recovered” species as they remain extremely vulnerable to human impact and changes in their environment and act as an indicator species, indicating problems in the marine and coastal environment due to their position as a top predator in the food chain.
Help
us save more pelicans
Fishing tackle entanglements & other threats to Pelicans
Their close proximity to human activity and their opportunistic feeding behaviors help to make them regular victims of entanglement in discarded fishing line and hooks. Over 30% of all the brown pelicans that we receive are fishing tackle entanglements. Brown Pelicans are also vulnerable to oil spills as they frequent harbors and piers where spills and polluted water is more likely to occur. Whether it is crude oil, diesel fuel from small private vessels, cooking oil from coastal restaurants or rancid fish oil from fish processing plants, they are easily oiled and loose the protective waterproofing. On cold days they can readily succumb to low temperatures and die of hypothermia. Brown pelicans can also become the unfortunate victims of excited sea lions, that when feeding on schools of fish in a frenzy with pelicans and other marine birds can take large chunks of flesh out of a pelican’s stomach. Injured birds with torn pouches, broken legs and wings and other injuries are brought to our centers for care regularly also.
Domoic acid, a neuro toxin associated with red tide events, can affect large numbers of brown pelicans causing the birds to experience seizures, making them incapable of feeding, flight and normal functioning. A rare form of botulism that lives in the stomach of live tilapia in the Salton Sea has also killed and impacted thousands of brown pelicans and IBRRC has worked with the US Fish & Wildlife Service to provide care for many of those stricken birds. We have also seen brown pelicans mutilated by humans who have on numerous occasions cut off their beaks or crushed their wings which we can only attribute to less than compassionate fisherman who are fed up with pelicans grabbing their baited hooks and basically becoming a nuisance. 80% of all pelican injuries and illnesses can be attributed to human cause pollution or actions.
The pelicans that come to IBRRC and survive their injuries and illnesses and other maladies are typically released back into the wild within ten to twenty days of rehabilitation treatment. Sick and weak birds require initial supportive care and then time to fatten up, while injured birds may take longer as they often require medication and surgery and their wounds need time to heal. Mutilated and seriously injured birds that have no chance of survival are euthanized to prevent further suffering.
Pelican Aviaries in California
Brown pelicans have an eight-foot wingspan and need a large, enclosed area for flight conditioning prior to release, along with large circulating pools for swimming and waterproofing. Each of our centers in California houses a 100 foot long pelican aviary, the only aviaries of their size and scope in the US specifically designed for brown pelicans. They are each complete with two pools and plenty of flight and exercise space, high perches for pelicans to access, helping to strengthen their wing muscles. Our San Pedro facility sees more pelicans due to the large pelican populations that remain in Southern California throughout the year and therefore have an additional 30 foot pelican aviary to help handle the large number of pelicans coming through the center on an annual basis. These large flight aviaries are also used by other marine birds such as cormorants and gulls, the species that actually share the harbors and coastal areas with pelicans.
The cost of caring for pelicans & their immense value
Pelicans are large and eat a lot of fish. The cost of treating this large number of pelicans is expensive, time consuming and cumbersome. We estimate that each pelican costs at minimum of $500 to rehabilitate and even more for birds that require treatment and longer periods of time recovering from their problems. Furthermore, IBRRC believes that they have the right to receive care due to the fact that humans have created at last 80% of their problems and by the sheer fact that they hold a place in the food chain, in the natural world and in our lives. In other words, they need our help and it is our responsibility to provide this service for them! Help us
Rehabilitated Brown Pelican Post Release Study
Background:
Since 1971 all of IBRRC’s releasable birds have been federally banded upon release. These simply means that at the time of release we attach a stainless steel band on one of the bird’s legs that has a number engraved on it. If the bird is found or sighted alive or dead it can be tracked, giving us invaluable information. Although we do receive some brown pelican band returns from sightings of live birds and the discovery of dead birds, not enough is known about the post release movements and survivability of the California Brown Pelicans that we rehabilitate. We have had bird sightings of live and dead birds from such far away places as Mexico, Florida, Washington, Oregon and all throughout California.
We want to know more about their survivability. In order to increase the chances of getting better post release information on these birds we are marking them so that their identification number can be easily read by binoculars or the bare eye when within close range. The most common, proven and non-invasive method is to put an additional color marker on each bird upon release. This is done by adding a plastic color band with engraved numbers on it on the opposite leg that the metal federal band is placed on. IBRRC has been granted permission by the bird-banding laboratory to place plastic bands on released brown pelicans beginning in the summer of 2009. Each California Brown Pelican that is released from one of our centers is now fitted with a blue plastic band with white engraved letters and numbers.
How you can help.
Report color marked or other banded pelicans
If you have sighted a blue-banded brown pelican you can easily report it to us by filling out this short report form and just emailing it to us. We will officially report the sighting to the bird banding lab and list this data on our Facebook page next to the birds picture. Reporting form
Posters are placed at piers and strategic pelican hang outs along the coast of California encouraging the public to report these birds.
Visit IBRRC’s Pelican Yearbook Page (coming soon)
Why a pelican yearbook page?
Pelicans are indicator species and their problems, many directly related to human activities, show us the health of the environment that we share with them and when impacted as a result of human negligence, their plight highlights the attitudes that people carry about wildlife and the natural environment. We don’t want these animals to just become another statistic or a number such as endangered animals like polar bears or whales. Overwhelming statistics do not connect people with the animal and often overwhelm and confuse much of the public.
IBRRC wants people to see a face behind the statistic and recognize its individual life and therein it’s value to you and the world at large. IBRRC maintains that each pelican that we treat is an individual life that is important and deserves respect and treatment when needed. A Pelican Yearbook Page is really just a photo album kept on our Facebook page that has a photograph of each bird that comes into each center. A photo is taken upon intake of the birds face and once a month the pictures are uploaded from each center into the album. The caption next to the photo offer basic information on the bird’s issues and disposition, band number when released, died, euthanized etc.
Annual Report
An annual report of IBRRC’s brown pelican rehabilitation efforts, sightings etc. will be posted on our web site at the end of each year.
What you can do to support IBRRC’s California Brown Pelican Rehabilitation program.
All non-profits are looking for contributions to continue their valuable work. IBRRC is no different but we do realize that it is easy to become inundated with requests for support. In order to provide the best “bang for your buck” so to speak, we have created a few funding options that allow us to provide state of the art care for pelicans and you, the donor, something tangible so that you know for sure that your contribution is actually going towards the care of one of these majestic birds.
Adopt a Pelican or become a Pelican Partner.
We created two ways in which you can not only sponsor a bird’s rehabilitation but you can also become more involved in its life. Adopt a pelican and receive the birds band number on a certificate that indicates the bird that you adopted. You also receive a color photograph of pelicans being rehabilitated at our center.
Become a Pelican Partner! Not only receive the same information that you get from adopting a pelican but come for a VIP tour of one of our rehabilitation centers and accompany one of our staff or designated volunteers for the release of “your” bird. Open its cage, take pictures and watch the bird that you sponsored get released back into the wild.
Donate to our Pennies 4 Pelicans program.
Everyone has spare change and it is amazing how fast it adds up to become enough to pay for fish and medications for our pelicans. Donate to our Pennies 4 Pelicans program through the internet, by check or visit us at one or our centers or events and drop your change in our Pennies for Pelicans can.
Purchase a cool Pennies 4 Pelicans t-shirt designed by two of our rehabilitation staff, Michelle Bellizzi and Marie Travers. It displays a unique an attractive flying pelican on a front of a penny.
Report a color banded pelican
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The beauty of flight: Brown Pelicans |
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