Picture Of The Week 07-23-07

Where: Nags Head, NC • Island in Currituck Sound

Notes: Brown Pelicans can often be seen gliding over the ocean with their six and a half foot wing span, often plunging head-first into the water for fish. This is another species, along with the Osprey and Bald Eagle, whose populations were devastated in the nineteen fifties and sixties due to widespread usage of the pesticide DDT, which became prohibited in 1972. These large, fish eating water birds have made a remarkable recovery since then and were removed from the Endangered Species List in 1985 after fifteen years on the list. Yet some still struggle needlessly, because of entanglements in improperly discarded fishing line and other man-made trash. This photo was taken during a banding session on one of the protected islands they breed on in North Carolina. Forty volunteers and several licensed banders banded an estimated three hundred or more young birds from the colony. The unique number on each band can provide information on life span and travel. For instance, it was discovered from bird bands that adult Pelicans survive severe storms much better than juveniles and they can travel as far south as Florida, Louisiana and Cuba. Brown Pelicans are another conservation success story.