Brown Pelican - Behavior

Behavior

Pelicans are very gregarious birds; they live in flocks of both sexes throughout the year. They are exceptionally buoyant due to the internal air sacks beneath their skin and in their bones, and as graceful in the air as they are clumsy on land. In level flight, pelicans fly in groups, with their heads held back on their shoulders, the bills resting on their folded necks. They may fly in a "V", but usually in regular lines or single file, often low over the water's surface.

When forage, pelicans fly to a considerable height over a school of fish and then dive at a high speed into the water, often completely submerging itself below the surface as it quickly snaps up its prey before it can swim away. The pelican then comes back to the surface and spills the water out of its throat pouch that had been caught in the plunge and then throw back their head to swallow the prey. Only the Peruvian Pelican shares this active foraging style, while other pelicans forage more inactively by scooping up corralled fish while swimming on the surface of the water. Juvenile brown pelicans have been observed foraging in the surface-swimming matter of other pelicans. They are occasional targets of Kleptoparasitism by other fish-eating birds such as gulls, skuas and frigatebirds.

Although the Brown Pelican eats mostly fish, an occasional amphibian or crustacean may supplement the diet. Menhaden may locally account for 90-95% of their food. The anchovy supply is particularly important to the nesting success of the Brown Pelican. However, their preferred prey are usually not commercially fished species. Other fish preyed on with some regularity can include pigfish, pinfish, herring, sheepshead, silversides, mullet, and minnows, and they sometimes eat crustaceans, usually prawns. A single adult pelican can eat up to 1.8 kg (4.0 lb) each day. Today, in many coastal areas, Brown Pelicans will loaf around fishing ports and piers in hopes of being fed or stealing scraps of fish, especially if conditioned to do.