My obvious main excitement for this trip was the
anticipation of swimming with things like sharks, stingrays, and eels in their
natural habitat. I never expected to get almost just as much happiness at the
Laura Quinn Wild Bird Sanctuary. The talking parrot and owls kept my entertained
for little while, but I could sit and watch the pelicans all day long. In fact,
I did stand there for a good fifteen minutes recording one floating around the
tiny kiddie pool, constantly smashing it’s face in the water. I’ve never seen a
bird with such personality before.
Brown Pelicans are considered seabirds because they spend
their days on or near the ocean. They’re one of the only pelicans that plunge
dive for food. They can plunge head first from heights of up to sixty feet in a
dive. Once they catch their prey, they tip their heads upward or to the side to
drain the water from their large pouched bills. Air sacs in it’s body help it
to resurface after it’s decent into the water.
It was amazing to watch the pelicans preening themselves,
spreading their wings, hiding in trees, or floating around the water at the
sanctuary. Even watching them trying to snag fish, getting up close and personal
at Robbie’s dock was mesmerizing. Unfortunately though, about 700 adult and juvenile
pelicans die each year in Florida alone from fishing line and sport fishing
gear entanglement. Humans began posing a major threat to the brown pelicans in
the 1960’s and 70’s when their populations began to decline due to the
pesticide DDT. Luckily we realized this was harmful to numerous species and
banned this killer spray and the pelican populations were able to recover. We
may have realized that mistake, but humans still pose a big threat to these
birds. Every day these pelicans are experiencing the effects of pollution,
their habitats and food sources declining, and the dangers of boats and their
gear. The sanctuary has a perfect example of how humans harm without even realizing.
They have a pelican named Half-Beak who ran into a boat propeller and lost a
bit of his upper beak. Despite his injury he’s still thriving because of the
protection the pelican enclosure has to offer.
So keep in mind the pelicans next time you’re exploring the
beach and pick up any trash you see to ensure we get to experience their amazing
personalities for lifetimes to come.
Sources:
When I was in Belize I watched a few of them diving into the water to catch fish and I thought it was so cool. However, we did find a skeleton of a pelican wrapped in rope on the island. It really emphasizes how bad rope and fishing line can be to them.
ReplyDeleteI never truly appreciated the pelican until this trip and how much they are affected from human trash and activity. There was such a large number of them at the sanctuary, just image how many calls the workers at the sanctuary get just of the pelicans. The pelicans at Robbie's also gave me a good laugh when they would steal fish from peoples buckets.
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