Diving dare devils!

Eastern brown pelicans on the fly!

A common but wonderful sight to see when heading out to Capers Island is the diving eastern brown pelican! Did you know there are eight species of pelican world wide and out of those eight, only two species of pelican will dive as a feeding behavior? One of those species is the Eastern brown pelican—which we see all along the SC coast! The other is the Peruvian Pelican. Eastern brown pelicans have several adaptations to assist in their dive to prevent injuring themselves.

One adaptation, a lot of birds and other animals have to protect their eyes, is called a nictitating  membrane. Think of this adaptation like goggles. It’s basically a third eyelid to cover their eyes and still allow them to see whether they are diving from about 60 feet in the sky to just swimming in murkier waters. 

As pelicans near the entrance of the water they will tuck their wings back almost like if we were to fold our arms over our head for a dive into a swimming pool. This helps them hit the surface of the water without damaging their wings. Next their beak inflates like a life jacket while scooping up fish and helps slow them down when hitting the water. They also have internal air structures below their skin that inflate decreasing their speed. 

In addition to having those special adaptations for diving, eastern brown pelicans will practice their diving technique. This is important for the juveniles to learn proper form to prevent injuring themselves on a dive. Pelicans have perfected their steep dive to be between 60-90 degrees. While diving, pelicans will rotate to their left to protect their esophagus and trachea (located on the right side of the bird’s neck) from damage!