CA Brown Pelican Reproductive Failure Under Way; "It's A Complete Failure To Breed" - Ornithologist

California's brown pelicans, nearly driven to extinction by poisons a half century ago, are in trouble again, and no one knows why. They aren't breeding and are flocking to fishing hot spots along the coast six weeks earlier than usual, said Daniel W. Anderson, a UC Davis wildlife biologist who has just returned from Mexico, where he counted thousands of the birds at their nesting sites.

These are the pelicans that are often seen flying in platoons over the bay, swooping down to skim above the water and plunging with wings folded in pursuit of a fish beneath the surface.

The problem may be a sign that a long-expected El Niño event is heading across the Pacific earlier than expected, but that's only a possible explanation, said Anderson, who has counted the pelican pairs breeding on the islands in Mexico's Gulf of California every year for the past 46 years. His report was released Tuesday by the California Institute of Environmental Studies at UC Davis, where he is emeritus Professor of Wildlife Biology.

Anderson's census this year began in January and when it ended last week, he had found fewer pelicans than ever before. "It's a complete failure to breed, it's a bust, the bottom dropped out," he said. "But those birds will be back again, I'm sure. We've seen cycles like this before, although nothing as drastic as this breeding season."

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http://www.sfgate.com/science/article/Survey-finds-brown-pelicans-aren-t-breeding-5526339.php