Gannets and Brown Pelicans

     Gannets and brown pelicans have lifestyles in common.  Both species are in the Pelecaniformes order of birds and exciting and entertaining to us when power-diving, one after another in groups, head-first into ocean waters, with a splash, from 40 to 100 feet in the air along continental shorelines after dense schools of fish near the surface.  They prey mostly on herring and menhaden.  They also feed their offspring those fish.  There may be some competition between these species, but gannets dive deeper than pelicans, reducing some of the rivalry between them for the same food.  Both species draw their wings back just before hitting the water, beak-first to grab fish with their bills.  Both kinds of birds live in groups that nest and fly together in lines, alternately flapping their wings and gliding gracefully just above the water's surface, just off the beaches, which is intriguing and inspiring to see.  Gannets and pelicans have webbed feet for efficient swimming.  And both are coastal species, including along the mid-Atlantic shore at some time in their life histories each year.
     Each pair of gannets raises one chick each year on shelves on rocky cliffs along the North Atlantic coast, in North America along the shore of Canada.  And young and old winter along the Atlantic and Gulf coasts of the United States. 
     Gannets are as big as geese, but more streamlined for diving and "flying" underwater with their wings after fish.  They have long, dagger-like beaks for grabbing their prey.  Adults are white with black wing tips, black feet and light yellow-brown on the neck.  Young gannets are mottled chocolate and white.  Young and old alike fly with rapid wing-beats and frequent soaring.
     Brown pelicans are bigger than geese, and interesting to many people, even non-birders.  They are mostly brown with yellow and white on the neck and head during the breeding season.  And they have that characteristic large, pouched bill all pelican species have to scoop up water and fish from the water's surface at the conclusion of each dive for prey.  When they surface, each pelican strains out the water from its pouch and swallows the fish it caught, headfirst and whole.      
     Brown pelicans nest from Delaware and Maryland south to Georgia along the Atlantic shore and winter along the coast of Florida, the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea.  There is even a nesting colony or two on islands in the Chesapeake Bay in recent years as the numbers of these pelicans increases and the birds expand their range. 
     Brown pelicans hatch about three young per clutch in stick nurseries in low, brushy trees or on the ground on small islands in shallow bays.  Some nesting colonies are destroyed by high winds or flooding, but pelicans live for several years and have other opportunities to raise young to maturity.
     When along the Middle Atlantic shore, watch for brown pelicans in summer and gannets in winter.  Both of these distantly-related, large, coastal birds are intriguing to watch diving for fish in the ocean, from high in the sky, just off the recreational beaches and boardwalks people inhabit.