cate that minor restrictions in food supply ser- 

 iously impair reproduction and that the presence 

 of DDE intensifies the effects of food deprivation 

 (U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Denver WildHfe 

 Research Center ms. 1974; Keith 1978). 



PRIORITY INDEX 



Eastern subspecies: None assigned. 

 California subspecies: 13. 



DESCRIPTION 

 Eastern subspecies 



P. o. carolinensis is a large bird, with a total 

 length of 114 to 137 cm and a wingspan of 2 m. 

 It has a long bill and a large gular pouch, which is 

 colored greenish during the breeding season. 

 Adults have a black belly with gray wings and 

 back. The head is yellow from early autumn until 

 late spring, when it turns white. The neck is white 

 in the fall and winter, but becomes chestnut 

 brown during the breeding season. 



Immatures are brown with white bellies for 

 the first 3 to 5 years (Schreiber 1979). Photo- 

 graphs may be found in Bent (1922), Peterson 

 (1947), and Palmer (1962), among others. 



California subspecies 



P. o. californicus is distinguished from the 

 eastern subspecies by its larger size and darker 

 coloration. The brown color of the back of the 

 neck is almost black, and the gular pouch is 

 reddish instead of greenish during the breeding 

 season (Baird et al. 1884, U.S. Fish and WOdlife 

 Service 1973, Bent 1922, Wetmore 1945). The 

 young have white down when first hatched. 



The eggs of both subspecies are lusterless 

 white, becoming dirty during incubation. The 

 measurements of the eastern birds' eggs average 

 73 to 46 mm and those of the California birds, 

 78.5 by 50.6 mm. Pelicans typically fly by alter- 

 nate flapping and soaring. The California birds 

 can be seen to take advantage of updrafts produced 

 when winds axe deflected by the coastal bluffs, 

 soaring considerable distances without flapping 

 and thus reducing the energy required for flight 

 (Woodward 1921). 



RANGE 



Eastern subspecies 



On the eastern seaboard, the pelican ranges 

 from North Carolina to Florida, around the Gulf 



Coast to Texas and Mexico, and southward to 

 Venezuela. It also inhabits the West Indies and 

 many islands in the Caribbean. Casual or sporadic 

 sightings have been reported from Nova Scotia, 

 Michigan, Wyoming, Colorado, and Bermuda 

 (Bent 1922). 



Breeding colony sites are listed in Schreiber 

 and Risebrough (1972), Blus et al. (1974a) and 

 WilHamset al. (1976). 



Pelicans are usually resident near their breed- 

 ing grounds, although young birds tend to wander. 

 Schreiber (1976a) color-marked individuals and 

 observed that the majority of fledglings moved 

 south away from the colony during the first 

 months out of the nest. Some individuals wander 

 extensively. 



The Florida population has been found to be 

 divided into east- and west-coast groups that do 

 not appear to mix. Birds in South Carolina and 

 on the east coast of Florida move south in the 

 fall, but remain on the east coast and in the upper 

 Florida Keys. Pelicans hatched at Tampa Bay also 

 move southward in the fall, being common at 

 Flamingo, upper Florida Bay, and the lower Keys. 



The former range is the same as the present 

 one, except that the pelican was once a common 

 breeder on the coast of Louisiana; it has been un- 

 known there since 1966 except for a small group 

 transplanted from Florida. The Texas and northern 

 Mexico populations have been much reduced 

 (U.S. Dept. of the Interior 1973, Schreiber 1979). 

 Brown pelicans breed only on coastal islands and 

 in Florida; fewer than 50 islands are currently in 

 use (Schreiber 1979). 



On the 45 sites occupied since 1950, 26 

 (58%) are in State ownership; 9 (20%) are Fed- 

 erally owned; 5 (11%) are in miscellaneous or un- 

 certain ownership. Only the Federally owned sites 

 are considered secure (Williams et al. 1976). 



California subspecies 



At present, this species breeds locally on is- 

 lands along the Pacific coast from Anacapa Island, 

 Ventura County, California to Los Coronados, 

 San Martin, and San Benito Islands off the coast 

 of Baja California; on islands in the Gulf of Cali- 

 fornia, and south to Tres Marias Islands off 

 Nayarit. Historical nesting sites are Santa Cruz 

 and San Miguel Islands, Santa Barbara County, 

 and Bird Rock, Point Lobos, Monterey County, 

 California. Postbreeding movement of birds 

 northward along Pacific Coast in late summer and 

 fall is common (Wetmore 1945; A.O.U. 1957; 

 Anderson and Anderson 1976; Fish and Wildlife 



