Whales and dolphins get most of the attention on a whale watching trip, but keep an eye on the sky and you’ll likely spot one of the coast’s most entertaining year-round residents: the brown pelican. With their prehistoric look and dramatic hunting style, brown pelicans are a Southern California favorite in their own right. Here’s what makes them so unique.
What Makes Brown Pelicans Unique
Brown pelicans are the only pelican species in the world that plunge-dives for food. Rather than swimming or wading to catch fish like most other pelicans, brown pelicans spot prey from the air and dive bill-first into the water, sometimes from as high as 60 to 70 feet. Special air sacs beneath their skin cushion the impact, absorbing the shock of hitting the water at speed and helping stun nearby fish in the process.
Size & Appearance
An adult brown pelican measures around 4 feet long with a wingspan just over 6.5 feet, yet weighs only about 8 pounds thanks to its lightweight, air-filled bones. During breeding season, adults develop striking coloring, with a pale yellow head and a dark reddish-brown neck that makes them easy to spot from the deck of a boat.
How Brown Pelicans Hunt
After spotting fish from the air, a brown pelican tucks its wings and dives, hitting the water hard enough to stun small fish before they can escape. Its expandable throat pouch can hold up to three gallons of water at once — far more than its stomach can. Before swallowing, the pelican drains the water out through the sides of its bill, leaving just the fish behind. It’s not uncommon to see gulls hovering nearby, ready to swoop in and steal a meal straight from the pelican’s pouch.
The Brown Pelican’s Remarkable Comeback
Brown pelicans nearly disappeared from California in the mid-1900s due to the pesticide DDT, which caused their eggshells to become dangerously thin and led to widespread nesting failures. The species was listed as endangered in 1970, and DDT was banned in the U.S. in 1972. The recovery that followed has been one of the great conservation success stories along our coast — nesting colonies on the Channel Islands rebounded significantly in the decades after the ban, and the brown pelican was officially removed from the endangered species list in 2009.
Where to Spot Brown Pelicans in Long Beach & LA
Unlike migrating whales, brown pelicans are year-round residents along the Southern California coast, often seen perched on harbor pilings, gliding low over the waves in formation, or diving near the breakwater. They’re one of the most reliable wildlife sightings on any given trip, alongside the sea lions, dolphins, and other marine life covered in common marine mammals and California’s kelp forests.
See Brown Pelicans on Your Next Cruise
Whales may be the headliner, but brown pelicans are a guaranteed highlight of nearly every trip. Check our whale sightings report for recent activity, then book a Long Beach whale watching tour with Harbor Breeze Cruises to see this coastal icon in action.
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