Written by Mark Kramer | Photos by Gary Seloff

The pelican, its beak can hold more than its bellycan. That was the sage advise from my mother when we would visit south Louisiana in my childhood. My mother was no birder, but she often offered colorful Cajun phrases. Those are standout memories for me. They’re vivid because the birds were very large and had a peculiar bill.  The Brown Pelican is the state bird of Louisiana. They’re also strong memories because, at that time, there were no Brown Pelicans to be found in coastal Texas.

Both Brown Pelicans (Pelecanus occidentalis) and White Pelicans (Pelecanus erythrorhynchos) now occur on Armand Bayou. They are among the largest and heaviest birds in North America. Pelicans are fish-eating birds and make a good living on the bayou. Gulf Menhaden, which is the primary forage fish in Armand Bayou, are their main course.

There are many birds on the bayou which specialize in eating fish. The abundance and diversity of fish-eating bird species is a useful biological indicator of the health of the fishery. Each of these fishermen have evolved their own specialized adaptations to catch the same short list of fish species, ensuring success in filling their niche and their belly.

The Louisiana Pelicans were special. As a child, I fished all around the Galveston Bay complex and never saw Pelicans. The birds were totally absent from the Texas coast for decades. As with many other birds, the Brown Pelican suffered significant impacts from DDT beginning in the 1960’s. Agricultural areas applied DDT to their fields as an insecticide. Rain runoff carried the toxin downstream into Texas bays where it accumulated in the fish which were eaten by the Pelican. These long-lived, legacy pesticides concentrate in the apex predators at the top of the food web. The pollutant damages the bird’s reproductive system which produces a thinning of the eggshell. The eggshell is weakened and cracks during the weight of incubation. The Pelican population crashed, and the bird was ultimately placed on the newly formed Endangered Species List in 1970.

When an animal is Listed, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service leads a Recovery Team that is charged with developing a recovery plan for the species. In 1977, ABNC attended a Brown Pelican Recovery Team meeting in Grande Isle, Louisiana, where a remnant Pelican population still persisted. We had hoped that Armand Bayou might be considered as a reintroduction site for the upper Texas coast. It was ultimately determined that the Bayou lacked quality breeding/nesting habitat and birds weren’t moved here. However, Louisiana Pelicans were relocated to more promising nesting areas on the Texas coast and were the original colonizers of today’s resident population.

Brown Pelicans prefer nesting on large islands in coastal bays. Many of those historic nesting islands in Galveston Bay (such as Redfish Island) have disappeared from the effects of subsidence and erosion from ship wakes. This loss of nesting habitat has now concentrated their nesting area on North Deer Island. As you approach Galveston Island and begin to cross the causeway, look immediately to the right and North Deer Island is visible. This is the largest collection of colonial nesting waterbirds in Galveston Bay.

Seventeen bird species nest on North Deer Island. In 2009, North Deer Island was designated as a Global Important Bird Area by the National Audubon Society and Bird Life International. Approximately 1000 nesting pairs of Brown Pelican use the island as critical reproductive habitat. For several years, I led tours of the colony with fellow conservationist, George Regmund. Seeing, smelling, and hearing tens of thousands of nesting birds and their young imparts the feeling that you are in the Galapagos. It’s likely that if you see a Brown Pelican around the bay that it was born there.

One of the most spectacular viewing opportunities on Armand Bayou is from ABNC’s Bayou Ranger Tour pontoon boat to witness a Brown Pelican dive. The birds make a headfirst entrance creating a huge splash that’s audible for some distance.

Brown Pelicans were listed as an Endangered Species from 1970 -2009. After forty years, I had my first sighting ever on Armand Bayou in 2005. It was a memorable moment. The kind of rare moment where you take a deep breath of conservation success. 

In November, large flocks of White Pelicans may be seen circling in slow motion spiral perfection high overhead. In North America, only the California Condor is larger. In the Fall, the birds return to the Texas coast to overwinter after completing nesting in the central U. S. 

White Pelican’s fishing strategy differs from their Brown Pelican cousins. They don’t dive. Instead, they swim and occasionally dip the large bill into the water to grab fish. They often work as a team, swimming in a choreographed fashion where they encircle fish schools into a tight ball and catch them in unison. While they are very large the birds, they are graceful and stately in their elegant aquatic dance.

White Pelican populations also suffered a significant decline from DDT. However, the bird’s decline was not significant enough to have it Listed. Why not? Both species inhabit similar habitat and consume fish. One difference is that Brown Pelicans are non-migratory. One theory regarding the contrast of impacts is that the coastal Brown Pelican remained in the receiving bays of watersheds which capture vast agricultural runoff. For example, the main river tributary of Galveston Bay (the Trinity River) captures 18,000 square miles of runoff within its watershed. Any and all pesticides within the area contributed to the toxic runoff load entering the bay, the fish, and ultimately, the birds.

White Pelicans are migratory and spend only the winter along the coast. Winter agriculture is limited in Texas, meaning a reduction of toxic inflow. White Pelicans migrate inland during the summer which is the peak agriculture period, where they nest around large lakes and reservoirs. This removed White Pelicans from year-round exposure to high levels of toxins in coastal bays.

Pelicans are another success story in environmental management and species recovery. After a forty-year absence, the Clean Water Act prohibited the use of DDT in America. The Endangered Species Act produced a focused Recovery Plan for Pelicans and many other species on the brink of extinction. They are among a distinguished list of the previously Endangerds now residing on Armand Bayou.