Brown Pelicans Are September Birds on the 2022 Audubon Calendar

Summary: Brown pelicans are September birds on the 2022 Audubon calendar by which the National Audubon Society apprises Unitedstatesians of 12 vulnerable birds.

Pelecanus occidentalis occidentalis ("pelican westerly western" literally) abides along the Caribbean coastlines of Colombia, Trinidad and Tobago, Venezuela and West Indies as well as in the Bahamas and the Greater and Lesser Antilles. The subspecies, first approached taxonomically by Carl Linnaeus (May 23, 1707-Jan. 10, 1778), acquires artistic appreciation as an acclaimed image by John James Audubon (April 26, 1785-Jan. 27, 1851) for his Birds of America publication of 1827-1838: Public Domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Brown pelicans are September birds on the 2022 Audubon calendar by which the National Audubon Society monthly apprises Unitedstatesians of 12 vulnerable birds associated with North American breeding, wintering and year-round accommodations.

Wintertime, springtime, summertime fish ponds, freshwater bodies and seasonal pools bring Pelecaniformes (from Greek πελεκάν [“axe”] via Latin pelecānus [“pelican”] and Latin -fōrmēs [“-shaped”] order members. The pelican member of that order’s Pelecanidae (pelican-like, from Greek –ειδής [“-like”] via Latin –idæ) waterbird family clusters along Mexico-United States borders, coastal islands and coastlines. Breeding-season months from February through August annually draw material-gathering fathers-to-be and structure-building mothers-to-be to ground-level scrapes, to low-lying bush- and mangrove-domiciled nests and to soil mounds.

Ground-level nests entail feather-lined, litter-rimmed scrapes or, with 18- to 24-inch (45.72- to 60.96-centimeter) outside diameters, 4- to 10-inch- (10.16- to 25.4-centimeter-) high feather-lined, litter-scraped mounds.

Bush- and mangrove-foundation, feather-lined, grass-, reed-, stick-, straw-heaped, 4- to 10-inch- (10.16- to 25.4-centimeter-) high platforms favor branch-enlaced, 18- to 24-inch (45.72- to 60.96-centimeter) outside diameters.

Physically and sexually mature, two- to five-plus-year-old females gestate elliptical to semi-elliptical, 75- by 50-millimeter (2.95- by 1.97-inch) eggs with chalky, scratch-prone, stain-retentive, thick, uneven exteriors. Physically and sexually mature brown pelicans have more than one brood per breeding and parenting season only if something happens to their two- to three-egg brood. A two-brood breeding season infrequently involves anything other than one egg that is a hatchling within 28 to 30 days and a nestling for six-some weeks.

Brown pelicans join alternating glides and wingbeats low over surface waters when they journey as September birds on the 2022 Audubon calendar to September-January wintering colonies.

Pelecanus occidentalis (“pelican western”) subspecies californicus, carolinensis, murphyi, occidentalis and urinator respectively know Pacific coastal, Atlantic coastal, Caribbean, Colombian and Ecuadorian coastal and Galapagos breeding-season colonies.

The blind stage and the naked stage of semi-altricial (semi-helpless, from Latin altrix, “nourisher”) brown pelican hatchlings respectively last two days and 10 to 12 days. Brown pelican nestlings manifest downy coats as 10-plus-day-olds; gray-white bills and pouches; and gray-white, web-footed legs with one claw per toe and four toes per foot. They need father- and mother-regurgitated nourishment the six-some weeks that they nestle together in their nursery mound, platform or scrape and then the three next weeks.

Johann Gmelin (Aug. 8, 1748-Nov. 1, 1804) and Robert Ridgway (July 2, 1850-March 25, 1929) observed Unitedstatesian brown pelicans, whose descendants the 2022 Audubon calendar obliges.

Nine-week-old fledglings needing parental nourishment and nestling into nearby arboreal nests present themselves as September birds proficient in colony-wide grunts and hisses and courtship heart-hark repetitions.

Juvenile brown pelicans, physically and sexually immature until two-plus years old, queue brown, unmarked upperparts; gray-white bills and heads; gray-white feet and legs; and white underparts. Mature brown pelicans reveal black feet and legs; black, bulky underparts; white-marked wings; red-marked throats; dark-striped napes; and, unlike non-breeding, white-headed adults, cream-white crowns and foreheads. Ten-year lifespans sustain mature 4- to 4.25-inch (1.2- to 1.3-meter) lengths, 6.5- to 7-foot (2- to 2.1-meter) wingspans and 4- to 8.75-pound (1.8- to 4-kilogram) weights.

Brown pelicans travel as September birds across the 2022 Audubon calendar, along northern boundaries of the United Mexican States (Estados Unidos Mexicanos) and over Unitedstatesian coastlines.

The Galapagos Islands accommodate Pelecanus occidentalis urinator, subspecies analyzed taxonomically by Frank Alexander Wetmore (June 18, 1886-Dec. 7, 1978) in 1945. Avian taxonomists acknowledge the urinator subspecies as one of three brown pelican subspecies, with Pelecanus occidentalis murphyi (analyzed by Dr. Wetmore in 1945) and Pelecanus occidentalis occidentalis (analyzed by Carl Linnaeus in 1766), whose breeding, non-breeding, wintering, year-round ranges are not along the Atlantic and the Pacific coastal United States; "A pelican on the Galapagos Islands, with 'Kungsholm' (1966) in the background," Marine Photo Service, Waterline Collection, National Maritime Museum, London: Public Domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Acknowledgment

My special thanks to talented artists and photographers/concerned organizations who make their fine images available on the internet.

Image credits:

Pelecanus occidentalis occidentalis ("pelican westerly western" literally) abides along the Caribbean coastlines of Colombia, Trinidad and Tobago, Venezuela and West Indies as well as in the Bahamas and the Greater and Lesser Antilles. The subspecies, first approached taxonomically by Carl Linnaeus (May 23, 1707-Jan. 10, 1778), acquires artistic appreciation as an acclaimed image by John James Audubon (April 26, 1785-Jan. 27, 1851) for his Birds of America publication of 1827-1838: Public Domain, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:251_Brown_Pelican.jpg; Biodiversity Heritage Library (BioDivLibrary), Public Domain, via Flickr @ https://www.flickr.com/photos/biodivlibrary/8594198851/; Not in copyright, via Biodiversity Heritage Library @ https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/40419036

The Galapagos Islands accommodate Pelecanus occidentalis urinator, subspecies analyzed taxonomically by Frank Alexander Wetmore (June 18, 1886-Dec. 7, 1978) in 1945. Avian taxonomists acknowledge the urinator subspecies as one of three brown pelican subspecies, with Pelecanus occidentalis murphyi (analyzed by Dr. Wetmore in 1945) and Pelecanus occidentalis occidentalis (analyzed by Carl Linnaeus in 1766), whose breeding, non-breeding, wintering, year-round ranges are not along the Atlantic and the Pacific coastal United States; "A pelican on the Galapagos Islands, with 'Kungsholm' (1966) in the background," Marine Photo Service, Waterline Collection, National Maritime Museum, London: Public Domain, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:A_pelican_on_the_Galapagos_Islands,_with_Kungsholm_in_the_background_(5074437339).jpg

For further information:

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