Resources

Meet Gumbo

Gumbo is a brown pelican, (Pelecanus occidentalis) and he is modeled after a pelican named Big Bird who lived in Tanzania. Big Bird was rescued as a fledging and adopted his people who taught him to fish and encouraged him to fly. If you search for Big Bird Tanzania, you’ll find a series of Go-Pro videos and articles.

Facts About Brown Pelicans

They are the smallest of the pelican species with a wingspan of 6.5 feet (2 meters) and weighing up to 11 pounds (5 kilograms).

A group of pelicans is a squadron or a pod.

The brown pelican is the Louisiana State bird and appears on the state flag and seal. Louisiana is called the Pelican State.

Pelicans live along the ocean and brown pelicans plunge dive from 65 feet for fish. They use their throat pouches, the gular, as an airbag when they hit the water surface.

In the mid to late 1900s the pesticide DDT was used to control mosquitoes. The pesticide caused birds to lay thin-shelled eggs that were crushed during incubation. The brown pelican was highly susceptible and disappeared from most coastal Louisiana nesting sites in 1961.

Recovery Timeline

  • 1966, the brown pelican was declared the Louisiana State bird. The state began repopulating its native brown pelicans with fledglings from Florida.
  • 1970 placed on the endangered species list.
  • 1972, the Environmental Protection Agency bans DDT which saved the brown pelican as well as about 100 endangered bird species including the bald eagle.
  • 1995 the brown pelican is declared recovered.
  • 2009 five months before the Deepwater Horizon oil spill the brown pelican is removed from the endangered species list.

For further reading:

Brown pelican

The Smithsonian
Species Profile: Brown Pelican

Brown pelican

National Parks Traveler
Brown Pelican Removed from Endangered Species List