BROWN PELICANS: AN ENVIRONMENTAL SUCCESS STORY 



By C.R. Edgerton 



At first glance the plump pelican 

 seems an awkward flier. 



He's heavier, less graceful than other 

 shorebirds. 



His breast heaves downward with 

 each upward thrust of wing. His long, 

 thick bill rests on his chest like strapped 

 on luggage. 



But a closer look reveals a different 



bird. 



The pelican shoots up and down the 

 beach, hugging the line where sudsy 

 waves kiss the damp shore. He spies a 

 small fish and dives, scooping the fish and 



surrounding water in his dipper-like bill. 

 He swallows the fish and lets the water 

 drain out. And all this as he slides 

 through the salt air like a well-designed 

 glider. 



He is, after all, a creature of grace 

 and efficiency. 



And he's a bird that is making his 

 presence known along North Carolina's 

 shores. 



Once classified as endangered, the 

 brown pelican is achieving a special kind 

 of comeback. 



In recent years, the population of 

 brown pelicans has reached phenomenal 



heights, enough to cause delighted bird 

 lovers to remove this unique bird from the 

 list of endangered or even threatened 

 species. 



"Yes, I would say we've got pelicans 

 coming out of our ears," says James 

 Parnell, an ornithologist at the University 

 of North Carolina at Wilmington. "These 

 birds are doing just great." 



That hasn't always been the case, 

 although Parnell says pelicans have been 

 seen in North Carolina for almost a 

 century. He cites a book published in 1909 

 by the renowned birdwatchers T. Gilbert 

 Pearson, C.S. Brimley and H.H. Brimley. 



1 JANUARY/FEBRUARY 1992 



