The adult brown pelican is a large dark gray-brown water bird with white about the head and neck. Immatures are gray-brown above and on the neck, with white underparts. Although the Caribbean subspecies resembles the eastern subspecies, the Caribbean brown pelican has a darker non-breeding plumage above the surface. The Caribbean pelican usually also has a darker undersurface plumage during breeding than does the eastern brown pelican. Both subspecies can reach up to 8 pounds and larger individuals have wing spreads of over 7 feet. Brown pelicans nest in colonies mostly on small coastal islands. The nests are usually built in mangrove trees of similar size vegetation, but ground nesting may also occur. Ground nests vary from practically nothing to well built nests of sticks, reeds, straws, palmetto leaves, and grasses. Tree nests are made of similar materials, only they are more firmly constructed. The eastern subspecies nests mostly in early spring or summer, although fall and winter nesting have been recorded in some localities. The Caribbean subspecies begins nesting between May and August, but the season is at its peak during September through November. Normal clutch size for the brown pelican is three eggs. All courtship behavior is confined to the nest site. The male carries nesting materials to the females and she builds the nest. Both share in incubation and rearing duties. The species is considered to be long-lived; one pelican captured in Edgewater, Florida, in November 1964, was found to have been banded in September 1933, over 31 years previously. The brown pelican is found along the coast in California and from North Carolina to Texas, Mexico, the West Indies and many Caribbean Islands, and to Guyana and Venezuela in South America. Although brown pelicans were extirpated from the Louisiana coast during the 196O's, a small number have since been reintroduced. Nesting for the eastern brown pelican, in the Southeast Region, is generally confined to the Carolinas, Florida, Louisiana, and the Caribbean. However, pelicans have been nesting in Alabama. A 1988 survey of Guilliard Island, Alabama, revealed 766 nests hatched 1,5OO birds on the island's south side. Surveys of brown pelican nesting were conducted in 199O in the Carolinas. North Carolina nesting figures revealed 2,912 breeding pairs in seven different colony sites. (Dr. James Parnell, University of North Carolina at Wilmington, personal communication). South Carolina had 6,345 nesting pairs (Phillip Wilkinson, South Carolina Fish and Game Commission, personal communication). In Florida, a survey conducted in 1989 showed a stable population of 32,75O pre-nesting birds and a total population of 57,25O birds after the nesting season was over (Steve Nesbitt, Florida Game and Fresh Water Fish Commission, personal communication). Louisiana had approximately 1,333 successful nests in 199O (Larry McNease, Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries, personal communication, 1991). Brown pelicans are also known to occur along the Coast of Mississippi, and in the Barrier Islands, although population numbers are unknown. In Puerto Rico, the brown pelican is known to breed at nine sites located at Anasco, west coast; Montalva Bay, southwestern coast; and at Cayo Conejo, off Vieques Island southeastern coast. Nesting has also been attempted at Guanica Bay; Aguadilla; and Guanajibo, Mayaquez. The Virgin Islands has two major breeding colonies and two smaller colonies. Dutch Cap Cay off the northwestern coast of St. Thomas, and Congo Cay north of St. John are the larger colonies. Buck Island northeast of St. Croix and Green Cay (Green Cay National Wildlife Refuge) are smaller colonies (U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service 1988). From his informal observations, Jaime Collazo roughly estimates the current Caribbean population to be 1,5OO to 1,8OO birds (Collazo, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, personal communication, 1991).
Feeding occurs primarily in shallow estuarine waters with the birds seldom venturing more than 2O miles out to sea except to take advantage of especially good fishing conditions, and even then it is rare to find one more than 4O miles out. Sand spits and offshore sand bars are used extensively as daily loafing and nocturnal roost areas. The preferred nesting sites are small coastal islands which provide protection from mammal predators, especially raccoons, and sufficient elevation to prevent wide scale flooding of nests.
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