Recovery of Breeding Success in a Population of Brown Pelicans

Breeding populations of the brown pelican (Pelecanus occidentalis) declined during the 1960's on both east and west coasts of the United States. In 1969, colonies in South Carolina fledged an average of 0.78 young per nest (Blus et al. 1974b), and those in California only 0.004 (Anderson et al. 1975). The minimum production for population stability has been estimated to be 1.0 to 1.2 fledglings per nest (Henny 1972, Anderson et al. 1977). The South Carolina population may have decreased by as much as 80% during the previous decade (Blus 1970).