The Brown Pelican is the state bird of Louisiana. These birds eat mainly fish, requiring up to 4 pounds a day. Their exceptional eyesight allows them to spot fish while flying 60 or 70 feet overhead. After diving into the water, they scoop up the fish in their large pouch and then swallow them after sifting all the water out. They are very strong swimmers, and even young birds have been clocked swimming 3 miles per hour. Brown Pelicans can live long lives exceeding 30 years. Source: U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service

Although Brown Pelicans have few natural enemies, they became endangered by other threats. In the late 1800's and early 1900's they were hunted (much like the Egrets, Roseate Spoonbills, and Great Blue Herons) for their feathers, which adorned women's hats. In 1903 President Theodore Roosevelt made Florida's Pelican Island the first national wildlife refuge, which helped protect the birds. In 1918, the Migratory Bird Treaty Act was passed, which helped stop the illegal hunting. Source: U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service

The Brown Pelican species faced two additional threats in addition to the plume hunters. When food was scarce after World War I, commercial fishermen believed the Brown Pelicans were destroying their industry, and killed thousands of them. Then, when DDT came into use as a pesticide, it caused the Brown Pelican eggs to be so thin that they broke during incubation. By the 1960's Brown Pelicans were no longer seen along the Gulf Coast, and were in trouble in California, too. They were declared endangered under the Endangered Species Act of 1973, and fortunately DDT was outlawed a year earlier. The Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries successfully reintroduced Brown Pelicans into Louisiana from 1968 to 1980, and their populations have also recovered in the rest of the country so much that they have been removed from the endangered species list. Source: U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service