Brown pelicans primarily eat small and medium-sized fish found near the surface of coastal waters. Their diet includes anchovies, menhaden, sardines, herring, mullet, silversides, and other schooling fish. These coastal birds usually locate prey while flying and then plunge headfirst into the water. Their expandable throat pouch scoops up both fish and water, which is drained before the prey is swallowed.
What Do Brown Pelicans Eat?
The brown pelican is a carnivorous seabird whose diet consists almost entirely of fish. However, the exact species it catches depends on its location, season, water conditions, and the prey available near the surface.
Brown Pelican Diet at a Glance
| Food | Importance in the Diet |
| Menhaden | Major prey along Atlantic and Gulf coasts |
| Anchovies | Common Pacific Coast prey |
| Sardines | Eaten where coastal schools are abundant |
| Herring | Nutritious schooling fish |
| Mullet | Common in bays and estuaries |
| Silversides | Small fish caught near the surface |
| Smelt | Regional coastal prey |
| Pigfish | Eaten in warm coastal waters |
| Sheepshead | Occasional larger prey |
| Grass minnows | Small prey from shallow water |
10 Foods Brown Pelicans Eat
Brown pelicans are opportunistic hunters, but they usually target fish that gather in large schools. Small prey is easier to scoop, position inside the bill, and swallow whole.
1. Menhaden
Menhaden are among the most important foods for brown pelicans, particularly along the Atlantic and Gulf coasts. These oily fish travel in large schools close to the surface, making them relatively easy for pelicans to locate from the air.
A feeding group may repeatedly dive into the same menhaden school while the fish remain concentrated. Menhaden provide protein, fat, and energy needed for flying, breeding, and raising chicks.
2. Anchovies
Anchovies are a major food source for brown pelicans living along the Pacific Coast. Northern anchovies are especially important to California brown pelicans.
Because anchovies form dense schools near the ocean’s surface, many pelicans can feed in one area. Their availability can influence where pelicans gather and how successfully breeding adults feed their chicks.
3. Sardines
Brown pelicans eat sardines wherever these schooling fish are available. Sardines have oily flesh that supplies valuable energy to active seabirds.
California brown pelicans may gather with other marine predators around large schools of Pacific sardines. They circle above the fish before diving individually or participating in a large feeding frenzy.
4. Herring
Herring are another regular part of the brown pelican’s diet. Different herring species occur along Atlantic, Gulf, Caribbean, and Pacific coastlines.
Thread herring are fed to brown pelicans kept at the Smithsonian’s National Zoo, while wild birds capture locally available herring species. Their narrow bodies make them easy for pelicans to swallow whole.
5. Mullet
Mullet live in coastal waters, lagoons, bays, estuaries, and river mouths. Young or smaller mullet are suitable prey for brown pelicans because they frequently swim near the surface.
A pelican may dive onto a mullet school from the air or seize fish while sitting on the water. The second method is more likely when prey is concentrated in shallow or muddy areas where plunge-diving is difficult.
6. Silversides
Silversides are small, slender fish that often form schools in shallow coastal water. Their reflective bodies can make the school visible to a pelican searching from above.
These fish are an appropriately sized meal for both adult brown pelicans and growing chicks. Breeding adults carry captured fish in their digestive system before returning to the colony and regurgitating food for their young.
7. Smelt
Smelt are small schooling fish eaten by brown pelicans in regions where the two occur together. Like anchovies and herring, smelt often swim in groups that allow pelicans to catch prey efficiently.
Smelt are not equally important throughout the bird’s range. Brown pelicans change their food choices according to regional prey abundance rather than depending on one fish species.
8. Pigfish
Pigfish are coastal fish found in warm, shallow habitats, particularly in the western Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico. They may live around seagrass beds, sandy bottoms, estuaries, and other productive feeding areas.
Brown pelicans can catch smaller pigfish when they approach the surface or enter sufficiently shallow water. Pigfish are among the species documented in the bird’s diet.
9. Sheepshead
Brown pelicans occasionally eat appropriately sized sheepshead. These fish are deeper-bodied than anchovies or silversides, so smaller individuals are more manageable.
Pelicans generally swallow fish whole and headfirst. Large, wide, or unusually spiny fish may be difficult to position and can potentially injure the throat pouch, so pelicans usually benefit from catching prey of a manageable size. Sheepshead are listed among their documented fish foods.
10. Grass Minnows
Grass minnows are small fish commonly associated with shallow coastal habitats, including marshes, estuaries, lagoons, and vegetated shorelines.
Their small size allows brown pelicans to swallow several during productive feeding periods. Pelicans may catch them by making short dives or by scooping from the surface when a dense school gathers in shallow water.
How Do Brown Pelicans Catch Their Food?
Brown pelicans have a distinctive hunting method that separates them from most other pelican species. They primarily hunt from the air rather than gathering fish while swimming.
Plunge-Diving
A hunting brown pelican flies above the ocean while watching for fish. After detecting prey, it folds its wings backward, points its bill toward the water, and dives headfirst.
Brown pelicans may begin a dive from approximately 40 to 65 feet above the water. Air sacs beneath their skin help cushion the impact and assist them in returning to the surface.
Using the Throat Pouch
The throat pouch functions as a temporary fishing net rather than a stomach. When the bird strikes the water, the pouch expands and captures fish along with a large volume of water.
After resurfacing, the pelican tips its bill downward and allows the water to drain. It then raises its head and swallows the remaining fish whole.
Surface Feeding
Brown pelicans sometimes sit on the water and grab fish with their bills. They may use this method when fish are tightly concentrated near the surface or when the water is too shallow and muddy for a safe plunge-dive.
Do Brown Pelicans Eat Animals Other Than Fish?
Fish make up nearly all of a brown pelican’s normal diet. However, these birds are opportunistic and have occasionally been observed eating other prey, including small crustaceans, reptiles, and birds.
Such items should be considered unusual foods rather than regular dietary staples. Their anatomy and hunting behavior are primarily adapted for locating, scooping, and swallowing coastal fish.
Should You Feed a Brown Pelican?
People should not feed wild brown pelicans. Giving them fish scraps can encourage them to approach boats, piers, anglers, and fish-cleaning stations.
This behavior increases their risk of swallowing hooks, becoming tangled in fishing line, or receiving fish that are too large or damaged to swallow safely. Feeding can also make wild birds dependent on people instead of their natural hunting behavior.
FAQs
Do brown pelicans eat freshwater fish?
Brown pelicans mainly hunt marine and estuarine fish, but they may capture freshwater or brackish-water species when visiting rivers, lagoons, or inland waterways. Their food choices depend more on fish size, availability, and proximity to the surface than on a single habitat.
Do brown pelicans eat shrimp?
Brown pelicans may occasionally consume shrimp and other small crustaceans, but fish form the overwhelming majority of their diet. Crustaceans are more likely to be taken opportunistically when they are abundant and easily accessible in shallow coastal water.
Do brown pelicans chew their food?
No. Brown pelicans do not have teeth and cannot chew. After draining water from the throat pouch, they reposition the captured fish and swallow it whole, usually headfirst so that fins and scales pass more smoothly through the throat.
Do brown pelicans store fish in their pouch?
The pouch is mainly used to capture prey and drain water, not to store food for long periods. Once the water has drained, the pelican normally swallows the fish. Adults later feed their chicks by regurgitating partially digested food.
How often do brown pelicans eat?
Brown pelicans may feed several times throughout the day, depending on weather, breeding responsibilities, energy needs, and fish availability. They often alternate between hunting sessions and long resting periods on beaches, jetties, boats, docks, or offshore islands.
