Pat was just 6 months old when she came to the Suncoast Seabird Sanctuary in Indian Shores, Fla., in 1972. She was blind in one eye, injured by a fisherman’s hook. It was unlikely she could survive in the wild.
Back then, the rest of her species wasn’t doing much better. The population of the Eastern brown pelicans was in severe decline, largely as a result of pesticide runoff into the waters where the pelicans fed. The ingested toxins caused the pelicans’ eggshells to thin, so they would be crushed before hatching.
By the late 1970s, the pelican had all but disappeared from the waterways of Louisiana. It was restocked with young pelicans shipped there from Florida.
The use of DDT was banned in the United States the same year Pat came to the seabird sanctuary.
But 35 years later, pelicans face other threats: Coastal development is undermining the birds’ food supply. Fishing hooks and lines ensnare the gangly birds as they compete for fish. Noisy boats scare them from their nests. And an overpopulation of raccoons eat the birds’ eggs and sometimes their young.
Although the Eastern brown pelican was removed from the federal Endangered Species list in 1985, in Florida they remain a species of “special concern” under the watch of the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.
“Pelicans are an important part of our fauna heritage,” said Ann B. Hodgson, of the Audubon of Florida’s Coastal Islands Sanctuaries Program. “It would be sad to see them go.”
Florida was home to between 25,600 to 32,000 brown pelicans in 2002, according to the Wildlife Commission. The biggest breeding ground spans the southern half of the state and includes the island at Coffee Pot Bayou, in the Old Northeast neighborhood of St. Petersburg.
But Hodgson and others would like to see even more done to protect one of Florida’s most iconic creatures.
Boats, especially those with loud engines, often scare the birds away from their nests. Hodgson is pushing for laws that establish buffer zones around pelican colonies during nesting season. People should stay at least 30 yards from nesting sites, she said.
“When you get too close, you scare the birds and make the parents abandon their nests,” she said.
Some threats can’t be controlled. Hurricanes and cold snaps diminish the food supply. And raccoons are a growing problem for pelicans.
With no natural predators keeping their numbers in check, raccoons are spawning “out of control,” said Ralph T. Heath Jr., who founded the Suncoast Seabird Sanctuary in 1971. Raccoon invasions forced pelicans to abandon a colony of 3,000 nests at Fort De Soto Park on the southern tip of Pinellas County.
The seabird sanctuary works to rescue and heal injured birds, and to breed new pelicans.
The bird hospital dispatches staff and volunteers to patrol the shore and find injured pelicans. Tourists and residents can call (727) 391-6211 to report an injured bird or bring it to the sanctuary. Right now, about 150 brown pelicans are recovering at the shelter.
One of the recuperating pens at the center houses pelicans that are diseased or permanently injured with crippled limbs or lost wings.
Heath said breeding healthy pelicans in captivity is another way to boost the birds’ population. To date, more than 1,000 pelicans from disabled parents have hatched at Suncoast. Guaranteed a constant food supply and protected from threats, they return to the wild stronger than some wild birds.
Many of the birds hatched at the sanctuary remember to come back to nest there.
“They bring their mates and come back here to nest, then go back to the wild again,” Heath said. “It keeps the cycle of life moving.”
Pat, the young pelican who came to the sanctuary soon after it opened, is 35 now and completely blind. But she embodies the sanctuary’s mission of working to save and protect other birds. She has appointed herself guardian of a wingless seagull, and helps it stay on its feet.
