Brown Pelican
Louisiana’s state bird patrols bays in low files, then folds into spectacular headfirst dives for schooling fish near the surface.
Artwork inspired by Achille Peretti
Brown pelicans are the only pelicans that routinely plunge-dive from the air. Air sacs beneath the skin cushion impact, and the pouch briefly scoops water and fish before draining. In Louisiana they feed in bays, passes, beaches, and nearshore Gulf water, often traveling in a low single file that rises and falls with wave contours.
The species vanished as a Louisiana nester in the 1960s after pesticide-driven reproductive failure, then returned through reintroduction and environmental regulation. Restored nesting islands such as Queen Bess now matter because erosion, storms, predators, entanglement, and sea-level change can erase colony habitat quickly. Watch roosts from boats or public shores at a distance and retrieve every piece of fishing line.
- State role
- Louisiana state bird
- Feeding
- Headfirst plunge-dive
- Recovery
- Reintroduced after local loss
Quick guide
- Look
- Low file over water
- Separate
- Dark body from white pelican
Recognize it in the field
- Watch the dive
- Begin with pelicans rise, angle down, partially fold the wings, and enter bill-first when identifying Brown Pelican.
- Check body color
- Look for adult brown pelicans remain mostly dark-bodied; American white pelicans are much paler and fish from the surface together with dark body from white pelican before accepting the identification.
- Scan working water
- Use Barrier islands, bays, estuaries, beaches, and nearshore Gulf in Queen Bess Island and coastal Louisiana, Louisiana as habitat context and check Year-round; colony activity strongest spring through summer.
- Give colonies distance
- Repeated head raising, flushing, or birds leaving nests means the approach is too close.
Good to know
A pelican’s pouch is a flexible fishing net, not a permanent storage bag. After a dive it tips the bill to drain water before swallowing; birds lingering at docks may be injured or habituated, and feeding them fish scraps increases hooks, disease, and conflict.
Notice these
- Long pouch bill
- Low wave-following flight
- Plunge-diving