Pelican
cwilcox | November 12, 2009Weighing in at around 10 lbs with a wingspan of up to 8 feet, the brown pelican (Pelecanus occidentalis) is an impressive bird. Sure, it's the smallest of the pelican species, but it hardly lacks in size. Along the shores of Florida and the Gulf Coast, these birds are common. They swarm docks and piers wherever fish are being caught and cleaned, and their acrobatic fishing techniques often catch the eyes of tourists and locals alike.
But it wasn't always so easy to see these large birds in action. DDT use decimated the pelican population to such low numbers that in 1970, it was placed under…