Eastern Brown Pelicans

[AndyS]

Landing in formation. Tarpon Springs, FL.
Olympus EM5, 75-300

[Donkees]

1. It's interesting that they incubate their eggs with the skin of their feet

A newly hatched pelican on Virginia’s Eastern Shore is featherless. (Ruth Boettcher/Virginia Department of Wildlife Resources)

Pelicans incubate their eggs with the skin of their feet, essentially standing on the eggs to keep them warm. In the mid-twentieth century the pesticide DDT caused pelicans to lay thinner eggs that cracked under the weight of incubating parents. After nearly disappearing from North America in the 1960s and 1970s, Brown Pelicans made a full comeback thanks to pesticide regulations.

https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Brown_Pelican/overview

[AndyS]

2. That IS interesting! I was aware of the DDT issue.

My eldest brother was a pioneer in the crop dusting industry which was responsible for the DDT calamity.

To his dying day he maintained that it was all worth it to kill mosquitos and prevent malaria ignoring the fact that 90% of DDT application was agricultural.

It's odd how anything that impinges on your income can be justified . . .