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[[File:Pelican half-submerged after a dive.jpg|thumb|California brown pelican half-submerged after a dive]]
[[File:Flock of brown pelicans.jpg|thumb|Flock of California brown pelicans feeding in waters off San Diego, California]]
The brown pelican is a [[piscivore]], primarily feeding on fish.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YCIWAQAAIAAJ|title=Final report, California seabird ecology study|last1=Region|first1=United States Minerals Management Service Pacific OCS|last2=Sciences|first2=University of California, Santa Cruz Institute of Marine|last3=Observatory|first3=Point Reyes Bird|last4=Division|first4=Science Applications International Corporation Applied Environmental Science|date=1987|publisher=Institute of Marine Sciences, University of California |page=98|language=en}}</ref> [[Menhaden]] may account for 90% of its diet,<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=RhE0AQAAMAAJ&pg=RA4-PA4|title=New Orleans to Venice Hurricane Protection and Barrier Features: Environmental Impact Statement|last1=Michot|first1=T. C.|last2=Bettinger|first2=K. M.|date=1975|pages=4|language=en}}</ref> and the [[anchovy]] supply is particularly important to the brown pelican's nesting success.<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Anderson|first1=Daniel W.|last2=Gress|first2=Franklin|last3=Mais|first3=Kenneth F.|last4=Kelly|first4=Paul R.|date=1980|title=Brown Pelicans as Anchovy Stock Indicators and their Relationships to Commercial Fishing|url=https://calcofi.com/publications/calcofireports/v21/Vol_21_Anderson_etal.pdf|journal=CalCOFI Reports|volume=21|pages=54–61}}</ref> Other fish preyed on with some regularity includes [[Congiopodidae|pigfish]], [[pinfish]], [[herring]], [[Sheepshead (Archosargus)|sheepshead]], [[silverside (fish)|silversides]], [[Mullet (fish)|mullets]], [[sardine]]s, [[minnow]]s, and [[Fundulidae|topminnow]]s.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://sta.uwi.edu/fst/lifesciences/sites/default/files/lifesciences/documents/ogatt/Pelecanus_occidentalis%20-%20Brown%20Pelican.pdf|title=Pelecanus occidentalis (Brown Pelican) |website=Sta.uwi.edu|access-date=17 March 2022}}</ref> Brown pelicans residing in Southern California rely especially heavily on [[Sardinops|pacific sardine]] as a major food source which can compose up to 26% of their diet, making them one of the top three predators of sardines in the area.<ref name=":17">{{Cite journal|last1=Kaplan|first1=IC|last2=Francis|first2=TB|last3=Punt|first3=AE|last4=Koehn|first4=LE|last5=Curchitser|first5=E|last6=Hurtado-Ferro|first6=F|last7=Johnson|first7=KF|last8=Lluch-Cota|first8=SE|last9=Sydeman|first9=WJ|last10=Essington|first10=TE|last11=Taylor|first11=N|date=2019-05-16|title=A multi-model approach to understanding the role of Pacific sardine in the California Current food web|url=https://www.int-res.com/abstracts/meps/v617-618/p307-321/|journal=Marine Ecology Progress Series|language=en|volume=617-618|pages=307–321|doi=10.3354/meps12504|bibcode=2019MEPS..617..307K|issn=0171-8630|doi-access=free}}</ref> Non-fish prey includes [[crustacean]]s, especially [[prawn]]s, and it occasionally feeds on [[amphibian]]s and the eggs and nestlings of birds ([[egret]]s, [[common murre]]s and [[Cannibalism (zoology)|its own species]]).<ref name=":13">{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=FwEyAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA486|title=Vegetation Treatments Using Herbicides on BLM Lands in Oregon: Environmental Impact Statement |date=2010|pages=486|language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ycA1AQAAMAAJ&pg=SA4-PA66|title=Casotte Landing LNG Project, Bayou Casotte Energy LLC: Environmental Impact Statement |date=2006|pages=4–66|language=en}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal | author=Mora, M.A. | year=1989 | title=Predation by a Brown Pelican at a Mixed Species Heronry | journal=Condor | volume=91 | issue=3 | pages=742–743 | doi=10.2307/1368134 | jstor=1368134 | doi-access=free }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|author1=Horton, C.A. |author2=R.M. Suryan |year=2012 |title=Brown Pelicans: A new disturbance source to breeding Common Murres in Oregon? | journal=Oregon Birds | volume=38 | pages=84–88|url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/255995589}}</ref>
As the brown pelican flies at a maximum height of {{convert|60|to|70|ft|m|abbr=on|order=flip}} above the ocean, it can spot schools of fish while flying.<ref name=":13" /> When foraging, it dives bill-first like a [[kingfisher]],<ref>{{cite book|author=Dan A. Tallman|author2=David L. Swanson|author3=Jeffrey S. Palmer|title=Birds of South Dakota|date=2002|publisher=Northern State University Press|isbn=978-0-929918-06-8|page=11|edition=Hardcover}}</ref> often submerging completely below the surface momentarily as it snaps up prey.<ref name=":14">{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1aIAAQAAQBAJ|title=The Behavior of Texas Birds|last=Rylander|first=Kent|date=2010|publisher=University of Texas Press|isbn=978-0-292-77472-8|pages=28–29|language=en}}</ref> Besides its sister species, the Peruvian pelican, this is the only pelican to primarily forage via diving, all other extant pelican merely float on the waters' surface when foraging.<ref>Arnqvist, G. (1992). ''Brown pelican foraging success related to age and height of dive''. The Condor, 94(2), 521-522.</ref><ref>Zavalaga, C. B., Dell'Omo, G., Becciu, P., & Yoda, K. (2011). ''Patterns of GPS tracks suggest nocturnal foraging by incubating Peruvian pelicans (Pelecanus thagus)''. PloS one, 6(5), e19966.</ref> Upon surfacing, it spills the water from its throat pouch before swallowing its catch.<ref name=":14" /> Only the Peruvian pelican shares this active foraging style (although that species never dives from such a great height<ref name=Jaramillo2009/>), while other pelicans forage more inactively by scooping up corralled fish while swimming on the water surface. It is an occasional target of [[kleptoparasitism]] by other fish-eating birds such as [[gull]]s, [[skua]]s, and [[frigatebird]]s.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://nationalzoo.si.edu/Animals/Birds/Facts/FactSheets/fact-brownpelican.cfm|title=Brown pelican|website=Smithsonian's National Zoological Park|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080303181033/http://nationalzoo.si.edu/Animals/Birds/Facts/FactSheets/fact-brownpelican.cfm|archive-date=2008-03-03|access-date=2017-10-22}}</ref> They are capable of drinking saline water due to the high capacity of its salt glands to excrete salt.<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Schmidt-Nelsen|first1=K.|last2=Fange|first2=R.|date=1958|title=The function of the salt gland in the Brown Pelican|url=http://cescos.fau.edu/gawliklab/papers/Schmidt-NielsenKandRFange1958.pdf|journal=The Auk|volume=75|issue=3|pages=282–289|doi=10.2307/4081974|jstor=4081974|access-date=2017-10-23|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171023230659/http://cescos.fau.edu/gawliklab/papers/Schmidt-NielsenKandRFange1958.pdf|archive-date=2017-10-23|url-status=dead}}</ref>
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