Brown pelicans imperiled - again

Pelicans with Boom (Krista Schlyer)

The brown pelican is currently found along the coastlines of all five states in the Gulf of Mexico, and it is the state bird of Louisiana. Once listed as endangered under the Endangered Species Act, this coastal bird was only recently deemed recovered—and it is now imperiled again, this time from oil.

Brown pelicans are highly susceptible to oil spills. Their breeding, roosting and foraging sites are often close to shipping channels with heavy commercial traffic, harbors containing refineries or storage facilities, and offshore oil wells. Oil can thus harm pelicans at each of their life stages, from feeding and roosting to breeding and chick-rearing. Already, brown pelicans have been found coasted in oil from Deepwater Horizon spill.

Read our factsheet and learn more about what the Gulf oil disaster could mean for brown pelicans.