The big gray-brown bird gliding low over the water and crashing headfirst into bait schools is one of the most familiar sights in Cabo. Fifty years ago it nearly vanished from the Pacific coast of North America; today most of its subspecies nests on the islands of the Gulf of California.
A huge, dark seabird with a long bill and a big throat pouch. Adults are gray-brown with a yellowish head and white neck; in breeding plumage the back and sides of the neck turn dark reddish-brown, and Pacific birds get a red throat pouch and a reddish bill tip. Outside the breeding season the neck is white and the head only faintly yellow. Young birds are gray-brown above, head and neck included, with a pale belly.
The Pacific subspecies, the California brown pelican, ranges from California to Colima, Mexico, including the Gulf of California, and nests on dry, rocky offshore islands. A 2006 survey counted about 70,680 breeding pairs across its whole range, 61.5% of them in the Gulf of California. Another 4.4% nested on Baja’s southern Pacific coast, mostly on Isla Santa Margarita in Magdalena Bay. El Niño years mean fewer nests, poor breeding success or skipped seasons.
Brown pelicans eat small schooling fish such as anchovies and herring, usually within about 20 km of shore. They dive headfirst from as high as 20 m, and the pouch can hold up to about 10 liters of water, which is drained before swallowing. They nest in colonies of up to several thousand pairs, lay 2 to 4 eggs, incubate them for 29 to 35 days, and the chicks stay in the nest 77 to 84 days.
DDT upset the pelicans’ calcium metabolism and their eggshells became so thin they cracked under the incubating adult. In 1970, 552 nesting attempts on West Anacapa Island, California, produced a single chick.
Source ↗First listed as endangered in the U.S. in 1970, brown pelicans recovered after DDT was banned in 1972 and were removed from the list in November 2009, with more than 650,000 birds across their range.
Source ↗In a 2006 survey, 61.5% of all breeding pairs of the Pacific subspecies nested in the Gulf of California. Two or three islands in the San Lorenzo archipelago alone held about 17,225 pairs, roughly a quarter of the total.
Source ↗Brown pelicans enter the water upside down after a counterclockwise roll, a move researchers compared to the split-S turn pilots use. Air sacs under the skin of the belly and neck help cushion the impact.
Source ↗Pelicans warm their eggs with the skin of their feet, essentially standing on them. With DDT-thinned shells, that weight was enough to break them.
Source ↗While a pelican drains water from its pouch after a dive, gulls often try to steal the fish, sometimes perching right on the pelican’s head. The oldest brown pelican on record was 43 years old.
Source ↗In Cabo you’ll see brown pelicans every day: flying in lines just above the water, resting on rocks and boats in the marina, and diving on bait schools close to shore. Keep an eye on your bait when they’re around, don’t leave baited lines unattended, and never feed them fish scraps or carcasses: the bones and spines can tear their throat or get stuck.
If a pelican grabs your bait, don’t cut or break the line, because trailing line can entangle it and leave it unable to feed. Reel it in slowly and gently, without lifting it by the line, and get help: seabirds peck at faces and eyes. Control the bill first, cover the head with a cloth to calm it, never pull the hook straight out (cut off the barb first), and remove all the line before letting it go. A seriously injured bird should be reported to the authorities (PROFEPA in Mexico).
| Mexico (NOM-059) | Threatened (A), Pacific subspecies P. o. californicus |
|---|---|
| Ley General de Vida Silvestre, art. 85 | Species at risk may only be taken with authorization, giving priority to restoration, repopulation, reintroduction and research |
| Federal Penal Code, art. 420 | 1 to 9 years in prison for unlawfully capturing, possessing or harming a threatened species |
| Islas del Golfo de California | Flora and fauna protection area, part of a UNESCO World Heritage Site (2005) of 244 islands, islets and coastal areas |
| IUCN Red List | Least Concern |
| United States | Removed from the endangered list in 2009; still protected by the Migratory Bird Treaty Act |
The American white pelican is much larger and white, with black flight feathers, and scoops fish from the surface instead of diving. Boobies also plunge-dive, but they’re much smaller and slimmer, with a pointed, dagger-like bill and no big pouch; the brown booby is dark brown with a sharply white belly.
Yes. The Pacific subspecies is listed as threatened (A) in NOM-059-SEMARNAT-2010, so capturing, possessing or harming one is a federal offense.
No. Fish scraps and carcasses are often too big to swallow, and their bones and spines can tear a pelican’s throat or get stuck in it.
Don’t cut the line. Reel it in slowly, control the bill, cover its head, cut off the barb before removing the hook, take off all the line and release it.
Top illustration: Top Anglers. Photos: iNaturalist contributors, credited on each photo.
Our charters leave the Cabo San Lucas marina every morning. From $453 with license included.
