Bird of the Week: California Brown Pelicans

Perfection.

So a bunch of weeks ago (Bird of the Weeks ago???), I was back in San Francisco, and found myself at Ocean Beach. It was an absolutely glorious day—one of those days when the city is so unbelievably gorgeous that you almost forget that tech people have sort of destroyed it.

I walked up past the Cliff House and into Land’s End, a part of San Francisco that, again, just knocks you clean out with its beauty. And as I was staring out at the ocean, this happened.

Pelicans! California brown pelicans. Pelican after pelican after pelican. Soaring and diving and being generally perfect. There are tons of California brown pelicans in the Bay Area. Because they are from California, they like hanging out at the beach, where there are lots of fish for them to dive at and scoop up in their throat pouches. (They get up to three gallons of water, PLUS fish, in the pouch every time they do this.)

Apart from their general awesomeness, California brown pelicans are also inspiring birds because of how much they have had to survive. From the San Francisco Baykeeper:

During the 1800s, brown pelicans were so plentiful on the island of Alcatraz that a French observer said when they rose in flight together, it created a wind like a hurricane. But by the early 1900s, most had been killed for their plumes, and their numbers had dwindled.

The brown pelican population slowly recovered until the 1960s. Then, the use of the pesticide DDT again caused the species’ numbers to plunge. The pesticide caused the shells of the birds’ eggs to thin, preventing the embryos from maturing. In 1970, the brown pelican was listed as an endangered species. After DDT was banned in the 1970s, the population of brown pelicans gradually made a second comeback, and the bird was removed from the Endangered Species List in 2009. There are now about 10,000 breeding pairs in California, but brown pelicans are still threatened by serious health problems that may be caused by toxic algae.

Goddammit human beings, can you stop being terrible for like THREE seconds? This one bird has been driven nearly to extinction and came back and then was endangered again because of human foolishness. Chill the fuck out!!!

Anyway, California brown pelicans rule, and may they rule forever. I was in awe as I watched them.

A reminder: you can check out our complete Bird of the Week list here, and get in touch with your bird suggestions at hello@discourseblog.com.