Thanks to James Tilley for the photo! He reports, “Infrequent visitor to our area – I saw a brown pelican flying along Alki on my morning walk.” They’re only brown when immature, so this is a younger pelican. In our region they’re more commonly seen along the open-ocean coast, but we do get visits here inland. They’re no longer listed as endangered by the state or federal governments, according to this state Department of Fish and Wildlife status report from last year, which also notes: “Brown Pelicans are protected from ‘take’ by federal law under the Migratory Bird Treaty Act, and are a ‘protected wildlife’ species by state law.” They’re big birds – wingspan up to 6 1/2 feet.
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