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Pelican Deaths Come at Crucial Time: Die-Off That Has Been Hitting Young Birds Comes at a Time When the Species' Status is Being Debated

Posted on: Saturday, 17 June 2006, 09:00 CDT

By David Sneed, The Tribune, San Luis Obispo, Calif.

Jun. 17--A recent spate of brown pelican deaths that has reached the local coastline comes at a crucial time for the species.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is considering removing the large birds from its endangered species list. The agency recently embarked on a yearlong review of the species to determine if the removal from the list is warranted.

Meanwhile, the state Department of Fish and Game and UC Santa Cruz are continuing an investigation into the cause of the deaths. Park rangers and wildlife officials in San Luis Obispo County are collecting pelican carcasses and sending them to the state's veterinary laboratory in Santa Cruz for examination.

"Early sampling has not turned up positive information," said Dave Jessup, a state wildlife veterinarian at the lab. "We don't have anything conclusive."

About a month and a half ago, people began observing large numbers of starving, mostly juvenile, brown pelicans in Ventura County. The die-off has reached Estero Bay in recent weeks.

"The mortality seems to be moving north," Jessup said. "We are now getting some in Monterey Bay."

Biologists believe the mortality can be traced, at least in part, to a highly successful pelican breeding season this winter. The birds breed on rocky islands off the coast of California and Mexico, free from mammal predators.

For the first time since 1939, pelicans this year nested on Prince Island, an islet near San Miguel Island in the Channel Islands chain.

It's been a record-breaking year for young pelicans fledging, said Mike Harris, a state wildlife biologist in Morro Bay.

"They head south, breed and nest, and then come back to this area," he said.

Most of the starving pelicans are juveniles. Biologists theorize that the inexperienced yearling birds are having a hard time finding enough schools of small fish to sustain the sharp population increase.

However, disease or poisonings from toxic algae blooms may be making the situation worse. Postmortem testing should reveal if there is a problem wildlife managers need to be worried about, Harris said.

Brown pelicans are one of the state's most visible and emblematic seabirds. They are often seen plunging headlong into the ocean to scoop up small fish in their pouches and gliding in tight formations just above the surf.

The California subspecies of the bird was put on the endangered species list in 1970 after the pesticide DDT thinned pelican eggshells and caused massive reproductive failure. Human disturbance of breeding colonies also contributed to the decline.

According to the state Department of Fish and Game, the pelicans' decline played a significant role in raising Californians' awareness of marine pollution and helped pass a series of environmental laws in the late 1960s and early 1970s.

Conservation efforts have helped the bird again become a common feature along the West Coast. In December, a group called the Endangered Species Recovery Council petitioned to have the brown pelican removed from the endangered species list.

Where to comment

Comments on the proposal to remove the brown pelican from the Department of Fish and Game's endangered species list can be sent to fws8pelican petition@fws.gov or Christine Hamilton, 2493 Portola Road, Suite B, Ventura, CA 93003.

To report a sick pelican, call Pacific Wildlife Care at 543-9453.

Reach David Sneed at 781-7930.

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Copyright (c) 2006, The Tribune, San Luis Obispo, Calif.

Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News.

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Source: The Tribune (San Luis Obispo, Calif.)

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