(See member picture gallery below). September’s bird of the month is a familiar sight to beachgoers here, a large, graceful soarer that is ever so ungainly on land: the Brown Pelican (Pelecanus occidentalis). A large bird, it is nevertheless the smallest of the seven species worldwide; its cousin the American White Pelican is substantially larger. We see squadrons of these birds “ridge soaring” up and down our Atlantic beaches; most of them are juveniles, with white bellies and brown heads. Adults have a brown belly, gray back and wings and white head and neck in the nonbreeding season, while they are grayer overall but with a striking contrast between the white head and the rich brown neck they wear during the breeding season. (The Pacific subspecies acquires a bright red throat patch as well when its hormones run high. )
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- Larry Hess Brown Pelican Jupiter Inlet
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- Larry Hess Brown Pelican Jupiter Inlet
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- Larry Hess Brown Pelican Jupiter Inlet
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- Linda Schad Brown Pelican at Ft. DeSoto Park Bay Pier
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- Linda Schad Brown Pelican at Ft. DeSoto Park Bay Pier
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- Cliff Dean Brown Pelican Palm Beach Zoo. This bird has a damaged wing that prevents it from diving for its food, so it is fed by hand regularly by zoo employees. He is uncaged and roams the zoo grounds at will.
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- Lynn Thompson Brown Pelican taken at Alligator Creek in Everglades National Park
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- Lynn Thompson Brown Pelican taken in Key Largo
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- Lynn Thompson Brown Pelican taken in Cayo Costa
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- Lynn Thompson flock of brown pelicans overhead at Hobe Sound, Blowing Rocks
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- Paul Thacker Brown Pelican
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- Paul Thacker Brown Pelican
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