Subscriber Comments for
Wayward Pelican

Comments in order of when they were received | (reverse order)

COMMENT 290774	2012-06-23 03:56 PM
he looks like a smart old bird, hanging out with fellow swoopers.
COMMENT 290783	2012-06-23 04:27 PM
Call animal rescue and ask Santa Barbara Wildlife Care Network Helpline: (805) 681-1080 1460 North Fairview Ave Goleta, CA or Animal rescue team 896-1859
COMMENT 290786	2012-06-23 04:30 PM
Indeed, can't hurt to let the pro's know! Please do call.
COMMENT 290790	2012-06-23 05:07 PM
When in doubt, call. Better to err on the side of caution and those folks will be able to help or tell you what's a normal sighting, too. Cute little feller (or gal!) Hope it's ok.
COMMENT 290794	2012-06-23 05:22 PM
Great to be concerned but if you're not trained in assisting call in the pros. Acting out of good intentions with little knowledge can only make things worse.
COMMENT 290796	2012-06-23 05:23 PM
He's beautiful and healthy looking, I would leave him alone
COMMENT 290786	2012-06-23 07:38 PM
I called SCWCN. I didn't want to see them berated for not responding & didn't want a bunch of people saying "CALL!" but no one doing so. I told them that the bird looked fine & healthy, and to see this thread before responding. It IS good to be too careful. It's also good to be educated. June was to be contacted; few know more than she. Bless her heart, and ALL the Wildlife Care Network peeps!
COMMENT 290813P	2012-06-23 08:07 PM
After reading this report and seeing the pictures, I went to the tennis courts around 6; I walked around, asked people and no one there had seen the bird - not surprising since the first post here was more than two hours earlier. The pelican pictured is a very young juvenile, three or four months old, probably, just in from the nesting areas off Anacapa. The young ones are not very capable of hunting and, as a result, often starve or hang around piers where fishermen feed them ... and they get hooked. If you see one again, please call the SBWCN 681-1080. (I did call June and she had gotten a call, a message about it.) Thanks for being concerned, OP!
COMMENT 290827	2012-06-23 10:05 PM
Thank you all for your thoughts, concerns and contact information. I will keep it in case I ever need it again.
COMMENT 290847	2012-06-24 07:08 AM
Perhaps the same one that was hanging around Refugio pier last week. Quite tame and a skilled beggar.
COMMENT 291004	2012-06-24 04:19 PM
847, It's possible but not likely. Please don't feed pelicans on piers (or elsewhere.) Feeding one fish will make a juvenile pelican that knows no better into a beggar. It's a death sentence for many: they get habituated to being fed, are unable, especially when young, to feed themselves — it takes quite a lot of skill trying and missing — if they have gotten used to being fed. Soon, they get hooked by fishing lines/hooks, pouches torn, because of identifying fishermen as sources of food; fishermen cut the lines ... and the birds, if unable to fly because of the fishing line, die ... unless they're lucky enough to be rescued by the SBWCN volunteers. Over the years, quite a few have been found, rescued and untangled from Refugio Beach; quite a few more have not survived.

9% of comments on this page were made by Edhat Community Members.

EDHAT COMMENTS POLICY