Brown Pelican

A very large gray-brown bird who loves fish! Have you ever seen them fishing? They fly over the water sometimes as high up as 60 feet, then they plung into the water headfirst. After they’ve caught a fish, they tilt their bill down to drain out the water in their pouch, then they tilt their head back to swallow the fish! It’s amazing to watch several pelicans fish at the same time when there is a school of fish swimming by. They have made a remarkable comeback in the US. These pelicans had been seriously endangered in the 1970s due to the use of harmful pesticides, but since the banning of DDT and other pesticides, they are now abundant over the coastal waters of the US!