City - Moss Landing State - CA Country - United States
About
Compare this shot with one taken on October 23-2006. http://www.usefilm.com/image/1202477.html
The brown pelican is the only pelican that is a plunge diver. It scans the ocean for the reflections off of the silvery scales of schooling fish (Thelander, 1994) They rely solely on the ocean as their food source for they are carnivores (USFWS, 2001) and love to eat anchovies (Engraulis mordax). In fact, it is estimated that annually, California brown pelicans off the southern California coast eat about one percent of the total anchovy biomass (Burger, 1988). During their breeding season 90%of the California brown pelican’s diet consists of the northern anchovy (Thelander, 1994). Generally, they feed on this northern anchovy, the Pacific sardine and the Pacific mackerel (Thelander, 1994). Breeding success and winter abundance of California brown pelicans have been related to the abundance of food sources. Baldridge (1973) has shown a correlation between the reproductive success of California brown pelicans at Point Lobos with sardine biomass and catches. In 1966, the breeding stopped in this area altogether at the same time that the population of sardines declined. A correlation was also seen in 1979 on Los Coronados Islands in Baja California, Mexico when a decrease in breeding California brown pelicans paralleled a possible over harvest of anchovies in an area with an unrestricted anchovy fishery (Burger, 1988).
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