Brown Pelican

Status Rare vagrant. This species was first recorded in Nova Scotia by Piers (1894), who listed two from Pictou County: one taken at River John on 31 May 1885 was mounted and later acquired by the museum at Pictou Academy; the other, an adult male, was shot on 1 June 1893 on Pictou Island by lightkeeper J.W. Hogg. John Macoun (1903) mentions a third specimen from Pictou Island, shot by J.W. Hogg on 15 May 1895. In his notes Piers mentions two other occurrences: one taken in 1896 at Prospect, Halifax County, and the other shot by William Graham during June 1899 at Three Fathom Harbour, Halifax County. A male was taken at Louisbourg on 4 May 1904 and is now in the Nova Scotia Museum. The seventh specimen was shot by Forman Atkinson at Clarks Harbour, Shelburne County, during June 1924; E.B. Smith reported that the bird was sitting on a mackerel trap with nearly one half a bucket of herring in its pouch.

Individuals of this unmistakable bird were seen: on 26 June 1963 on Sable Island (C. and N. Bell); off Seal Island, gorged with herring, on 18 September 1976 (E. and G. Crowell); off Long Island, Digby County, on 26 June 1982 (several observers); and with an injured wing on 15 February 1983 southwest of Cape Sable on Browns Bank (M. Potvin).

Remarks This pelican breeds on Caribbean and Atlantic coasts from Georgia to Brazil; and in the Pacific from Washington State to Ecuador. Its manner of fishing is spectacular and quite different from that of its larger cousin, the White Pelican, which scoops fish from shoal water. The Brown Pelican dives headlong for its food from an altitude of 30 m or more, like the gannet. It is noteworthy that almost all Nova Scotia occurrences were within May and June.