Birdland

Back From the Brink of Extinction

The Cornell Lab of Ornithology describes the Brown Pelican as a comically elegant bird. Their feeding behavior is often described as spectacular, as they plunge-dive into the water from high up, using the force of impact to stun small fish before scooping them up. They can hold about three gallons of water (and fish) in their pouches, and have air sacks underneath their skin and in their bones, which makes them very buoyant. Brown Pelicans are fairly common today — an excellent example of a species’ recovery from pesticide pollution that placed them at the brink of extinction just a few decades ago. This Brown Pelican was photographed in Cozumel, Mexico by Park Hill resident Mark Silverstein.