"MORRO BAY, Calif. — On a jagged coastline in Central California, brown pelicans gather on rock promontories, packed in like edgy commuters as they take flight to feed on a vast school of fish just offshore. The water churns in whitecaps as the big-billed birds plunge beneath the surface in search of northern anchovies, Pacific sardines and mackerel.
If awkward and wobbly in appearance on land, they are graceful once airborne. The signature pouch dangling beneath the lower bill can scoop up to 3 gallons of water with every dip into the ocean — the largest pouch of any bird in the world.
It is what scientists call a “feeding frenzy.” And it is an encouraging sign for a bird that has struggled in recent years with a warming ocean, inconsistent breeding patterns and toxic algae blooms in Southern California.
“I would say the populations are somewhat stable, but some events are concerning,” says marine ornithologist Tammy Russell, a postdoctoral researcher at the University of California, San Diego, Scripps Institution of Oceanography."
Michael R. Blood reports for the Associated Press December 4, 2025.
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