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Nesting Chronology of the Eastern Brown Pelican

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Nesting Chronology of the Eastern Brown Pelican NESTING CHRONOLOGY OF THE EASTERN BROWN PELICAN RALPH W. SCHREIBER Natural History Museum, Los Angeles County, 900 Exposition Boulevard, Los Angeles, California 90007 USA ABSTRACT.--Nesting of Eastern Brown Pelicans (Pelecanusoccidentalis) between 10-20øN is irregular and occursover prolonged periods, usually beginning in the late fall and lasting through June but occasionallylasting throughoutthe year. Nesting between 20-30øN is on a winter-spring cycle, with only some irregularity. Coloniesin the 30-35øN region exhibit a definite annual pe- riodicity, nestingin spring-summer.The time required by adults to nest successfully,and then to undergo molt, plus daylength fluctuations only partially explain the controls on the breeding seasons.Data for the most extensively studied colony of the specieson Tarpon Key, Florida west coastindicate that freezing temperaturesmay control the timing of nesting, becauseearlier nesting occurs in the absence of cold temperatures. Selection against nesting during the hurricane season may have been an important factor determining the nesting chronology in this species.Received 14 August 1979, accepted10 January 1980. I SUMMARIZEhere the available data on chronology of nesting by Eastern Brown Pelicans (Pelecanus occidentalis occidentalis and carolinensis). This subject received some note in the past (Bent 1922, Howell 1932, Palmer 1962), and detailed study of the Florida west coast population plus more cursory observationsthroughout the state between 1969 and 1979 permit interpretation of the nesting seasonsof this coastal marine species as related to controls on breeding in birds (Immelmann 1973, Murton and Westwood 1977). METHODS My studies concentrated on Tarpon Key in Tampa Bay, Florida west coast (27ø40'N, 82ø40'W, Fig. 1), which I visited weekly from January 1969 through June 1976 and briefly in March, May, and/or June of 1977, 1978, and 1979. I also visited most other pelican coloniesthroughout Florida during theseyears. Data in the literature are summarized for chronologyin other colonies. For this study, counts of adults, nests, and nestlingswere made as describedin Schreiber (1979), and the tables and appendicesof that paper contain the detailed counts used in this analysis. I•ESULTS FLORIDA WEST COAST Tarpon Key.--In most years at Tarpon Key no adults were present in November, December, and January, and the similar patterns of population build-up in 1969, 1970, 1971, and 1973 were different from later years (Fig. 2). First adults arrived at the island during the last week of February, and numbers increased from count to count or on a weekly basis until the first or second week of April, when peak numbers were present. The peak population lasted for various periods of time; then a gradual decline in numbers occurred through June-August, and the island was deserted by mid-October in 1969 and 1970. During the fall of 1971, the island was never deserted, and numbers of birds increased dramatically during the last week of December, remained high through January 1972, then declined slightly, though noticeably, through February. The population peaked in late March, and the decline in numbers through the summer and fall of 1972 was similar to that in earlier years. 491 The Auk 97: 491-508. July 1980 492 RALPHW. SCHREIBER [Auk, Vol. 97 NORTH•,•35øN CAROLiNA.•'•75Ow SOUTH• OCRACOKE CAROLINA,•/(-CAPEROMAIN 500 km I' CHARLESTON ATLANTIC -{--300N OCEAN 80øw GULFOFMEXICO _•_25oMARCO'N 1"•PELICAN ISLAND -1L250N 95% 850W Fig. 1. SoutheastUnited Statesnoting locationsrelevant to Brown Pelican colonies. The island was desertedby early November 1972. No adults were present until the last week of February 1973. During this week and the first 2 weeks of March, the most rapid build-up in numbers that I recorded occurred, followed by a precipitous drop and then a slow increase, with the peak not reached until mid-May. This early initial build-up, followed by a decline in numbers, was exhibited by this population in early March 1970 and 1971, in mid- to late February 1974 and 1975, in early February 1976, but most dramatically in March 1973. During 1973 the population again declined through June-September, and no adults were present from late Oc- tober 1973 until mid-February 1974. The nestingseasons of 1974, 1976, and especially1975 showedsimilar build-up, peak, and decline in the population as in earlier years, but the timing was earlier, and the build-up started in early February or mid-January 1975, with the peak reachedin March rather than April as in 1969, 1970, and 1971. The major events of the nesting cycle are compared in Table 1. First nests oc- curred from 4 January (1972) to 19 March (1970), with earlier dates occurring in the later years. First nestlingscould be heard from 22 February (1972) to 4 May (1969), again with earlier dates occurring in the later years. First nestlings could be seen 1- 2 weeks after they could be heard. First fledging occurred from 25 April (1972) to 9 July (1973), 16-18 weeks after the first nestswere seenin the colony. The colony was desertedin all years, except the fall of 1971, from mid-October to mid-Novem- ber, with no apparent trend over the years. Data for the number and accumulated percentage of nests in a subunit of this colonythat was usedto study individually marked nestsand to measureproductivity (Schreiber 1979) clearly indicate the trend of nestingearlier in 1974-1976 than in 1969- 1971, although the peak of nestingoccurred in this unit of the colony in late 'April- early May in all years (Table 2). The very early nesting in 1972 is also obvious. Considerable variation occurred in the timing of nesting between specific units of the Tarpon Key colony, but first nestingalways occurredin the northern portion of the island, with later arrivals occupyingthe western and southern mangrove areas. ßJuly 1980] PelicanNesting Chronology 493 900 800 1969 o0. 700 1970 0.o0' .•%-0- - -0, 600 500 400 300 200 100 0 #•#-0--#0 JAN FEB MAR APR MAY 900 800 1971 o---o 700 1973 600 50½ 3OO 2OO 100 0 o-* J F M A M 900 800 1972o•o ø"ø• o 700 600 O•o/ Xo•ø'ø'ø- o.--.•_ o 500 400 ø/ø•o-'ø--ø / Xø"ø 200 100 0 J F M A M gO0 i974..... oo".ø.x 6008001975 o--o • ' "'g•/ %o.4 ......o . o loo JAN FEB MAR APR MAY Fig. 2. Numberof adultBrown Pelicans present on Tarpon Key, Pinelias County, Florida west coast in Tampa Bay, January-May 1969-1976. We visitedTarpon Key onceor twicein Marchand May/June 1977, 1978, and 1979, and nestingbegan in early February in thoseyears. Thesedata for 8 yr showtwo longterm changesin the generalpattern of the onsetof breedingin the late winter:initiation of islandoccupation earlier and the populationpeaking earlier in 1974-1976than in 1969-1971.Additionally, the striking contrastbetween the population changes in 1972as opposed to theother 7 yr, along with the declinein numbersafter initial arrival at the islandin all years,provides the basisfor my thesison the controlsof breedingin this species. Nestingrecords.--Historical records for pelicansnesting on Tarpon (= Bush)Key 494 RALPH W. SCHREIBER [Auk, Vol. 97 TABLE 1. Timing of nestingcycle on Tarpon Key, PineliasCounty, Florida, as determinedby observation from mid-lagoonand recordedas first date observed.Event thus happenedin precedingseveral days, usually not more than 1 week. First First First nestlings nestlings First Year nests heard visible fledglings Colony deserted 1969 ? 4 May 13 May 6 July 11 October 1970 19 March 19 April 24 April 15 June 12 September 1971 27 February 12 April 16 April 27 June Never 1972 4 January 22 February 11 March 25 April 15 October 1973 27 February 5 April 14 April 9 July 18 November 1974 23 February 3 April 20 April 28 June 29 October 1975 29 January 21 March 29 March 18 May 16 November 1976 4 February 8 March 21 March 27 May 24 October ornearby Indian (= Bird)Key are available sporadically from1888. •he names of these islands are confusing, but apparently nesting occurred on Indian Key from 1888 through the 1920's (Scott 1888, McPherson 1889, Pearson 1907, Pangburn 1919, Wetmore in 1itt.; Fargo 1926, 1929; Bent and Copeland 1927, Longstreet 1937) but shifted the 1 km south to Tarpon Key in the early 1930's (Schultz 1936, Mills 1931, 1949), where they have nested since. These records indicate no nesting in the winter, with adults moving to the island in March or April. Egg dates are 27 April 1913, early April 1924-1929, and late April 1925, while only nestswere presenton 28 April 1888 and 11 April 1906. The earliest nestlingswere found on 27 April 1913. June, July, and August found large numbers of adults and nestlings present. While these data are sketchy, many were collected by oologists,and, had eggsbeen present earlier in the year, they probably would have been noted. These data are insufficient to draw hard conclusions,but it appears that earlier nesting has occurred in the 1970's than was found from the late 1800's through the 1930's in this population. Clearly, an annual, spring-oriented, nesting cycle exists for Tarpon Key. Other Florida west coast colonies.--Nesting chronology data are available for the 1970'sfor a colony of Brown Pelicans on the Alafia Banks, a dredged-material island 35 km northeast of Tarpon Key and in the upper reachesof Tampa Bay, at 27ø5i'N, 80ø25'W. This island was created in the 1930's, and pelicans began nesting there in 1967. During the years for which we have comparative data (Table 3), nesting TABLE 2. Number and accumulatedpercentage of nestsformed in study area on Tarpon Key. Recorded as date first egg found in marked nests. 1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 Date n % n % n % n % n % n % n % n % 1-15 February 0 -- 0 -- 0 -- 5 6 0 -- 0 -- 9 17 0 -- 16-29 February 0 -- 0 -- 0 -- 7 14 0 -- 11 18 19 53 3 10 1-15 March 0 -- 4 16 2 5 23 40 0 -- 18 48 8 68 13 55 16-31 March 4 31 5 36 8 25 35 81 7 30 20 81 0 68 4 69 1-15 April 7 85 11 80 19 74 12 95 2 39 10 97 8 83 6 90 15-31 April 2 100 5 100 8 94 4 100 2 48 1 99 4 91 2 97 1-15 May -- -- 2 100 -- 10 91 1 100 4 100 1 100 16-31 May ...
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