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Birders

In reply to the discussion: Eastern Brown Pelicans [View all]

Donkees

(32,585 posts)
1. It's interesting that they incubate their eggs with the skin of their feet
Mon Jan 2, 2023, 03:55 PM
Jan 2023

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

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