Unofficial City Bird Brown Pelican Now Official St. Pete Mascot

ST. PETERSBURG, FL — The bird with the big bill and penchant for plunging into the ocean to scoop up small fish is now the official bird of St. Petersburg.

On Thursday, the St. Petersburg City Council unanimously adopted the brown pelican as the official city bird.

The brown pelican has long been the city's unofficial mascot. It appears on the city's logo, the city's flag, on manhole covers and in the logo of the city's tourism instrument, Visit St. Pete/Clearwater. The brown pelican appears on St. Petersburg postcards dating back to the early part of the 20th century.

It's yet to be seen if the St. Petersburg Police Department will follow suit and replace the bald eagle on its official emblem with the brown pelican.

In adopting the brown pelican as the city bird, the council pointed the revival of St. Pete's feathered friend after the bird became seriously endangered in the early 1970s.

Pelicans incubate their eggs with the skin of their feet, essentially standing on the eggs to keep them warm. In the mid 20th century, the use of the pesticide DDT caused pelicans to lay thinner eggs that cracked under the weight of incubating parents. After nearly disappearing from North America in the 1960s and 1970s, brown pelicans made a full comeback thanks to conservationist who lobbied for the government to ban the use of DDT.

While the brown pelican might not be the most elegant bird to grace St. Petersburg, it is among the most popular. Tourists and residents alike get a kick out of watching squadrons of brown pelicans glide along the surf and then suddenly dive into the ocean when they spot a tasty fish snack. The force of the impact from their plunge actually stuns small fish, allowing the birds to scoop them up with ease.

Cool Facts About Brown Pelicans From AllAboutBirds.com

• While the brown pelican is draining the water from its bill after a dive, gulls often try to steal the fish right out of its pouch—sometimes while perching on the pelican's head. Pelicans themselves are not above stealing fish. They closely follow fishing boats and hang around piers for handouts.
• The closely related Peruvian pelican lives along the Pacific Coast of South America from southern Ecuador to Chile. It’s a little larger than a brown pelican, with fine white streaking on its underparts and a blue pouch in the breeding season. These two species are the only pelicans that plunge-dive for their food.
• During a dive, the brown pelican tucks its head and rotates its body to the left. This maneuver is probably to cushion the trachea and esophagus—which are found on the right side of the neck—from the impact.
• The oldest brown pelican on record was 43 years old.