In 2024, wildlife rescuers were alarmed by the sudden appearance of hundreds of emaciated brown pelicans. Now, 12 months later, it's happening again, as 180 juveniles have been brought in so far on the verge of starvation.
It's putting a lot of strain on the staff and finances of International Bird Rescue in Fairfield, and they're appealing to the public for help.
It started in Los Angeles, where a domoic acid bloom off the coast has been sickening pelicans. But now it appears the birds have moved up into the Bay Area.
"We, today, got 12 new, young brown pelicans," said executive director JD Bergeron. "They're all from the Santa Cruz area and found in unusual places, people's driveways, the wharf. Some of these, clearly, easily recognized that there's something wrong."
The birds, all of them young, are not sick. They're starving. Brown pelicans reach full size in just a few months and, to do that, they eat their own weight in fish every day. But now, they simply aren't finding enough to eat. It's still a mystery, but Bergeron said a warm blob of water off the California coast may be causing fish to swim just a little bit deeper.
"They can be literally 7 or 8 feet down. The strongest of these pelicans, with their plunge dive, can only go about 6 feet deep. They can starve to death, literally, with fish about a foot below," Bergeron said. "It's clearly access to the food. There's not been any reports from the fisheries that the fish stock is down."
At the center's hospital, each bird gets a thorough exam and is given vitamins, saline and antibiotics and drugs to kill the parasites that can take over when a bird is in a weakened condition. And though they seem docile in the hands of the staff, it's because they may be very close to death.
"They are animals that will not survive without additional help" said Wildlife Center manager Kelly Beffa, as she examined a pelican found in someone's driveway. "Just a couple days. Sometimes it could be their last day if it's been a while that we can get to them. But it's urgent and in dire need."
The telltale sign of trouble is when a pelican, desperate to find food, ignores its fear of man and begins showing up in strange places, like when one landed on the field at a Giants game last year. The fans were cheering, having no idea that the bird was probably starving to death.
"The sad thing is that there is always a limit if you have starving animals that, at some point, there is a mass mortality, that they have been starving for so long that they cannot survive any longer," said Bergeron. "So, right now we're in the phase of encouraging folks to be on the lookout for pelicans in strange places, because the sooner you can get them into care, the more likely we can succeed in getting them well again."
While it may still be a mystery, it is also becoming commonplace. The rescue center has seen starving pelicans in three out of the last four years. The good news is that most of the birds do fine once they get plenty of food.
But that's still a problem for International Bird Rescue. At about $2.50 per pound, the fish bill is skyrocketing.
"A challenge like this can really cost us $100,000 or more," said Bergeron.
So, they're asking for help from the public. They need three things: monetary donations, volunteers to help at the center, and, finally, for people to keep an eye out for pelicans acting strangely.
In this case, a call to the bird rescue could be the difference between life and death.
For more information, or to help, visit the International Bird Rescue's website.
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