Oregon Public Broadcasting

Not three months after brown pelicans were removed from the Endangered Species list, federal wildlife officials are worried that the birds are dying of starvation on the Oregon Coast. Rob Manning has more.

Federal wildlife officials in Oregon are pleased that the brown pelican has recovered, but they don’t want to see them on the Oregon Coast, this time of year.

Experts say the birds are normally nesting far south of Oregon in January, but they’ve been staying here progressively later in recent years.

Roy Lowe with U.S. Fish and Wildlife says the birds aren’t doing well. He says he was first concerned when a brown pelican tried to steal fishing bait out of a colleague’s boat.

Roy Lowe: “And they were begging for food. And then we started getting other calls and seeing photographs of people hand-feeing and petting at various locations along the coast. In 25 years of working on the coast, we’ve never seen anything like that.”

Wildlife officials are asking people to stay at a distance from the brown pelicans, so the birds don’t get too accustomed to humans.

Lowe says scientists aren’t sure why the birds are staying in Oregon, or why they appear to be starving.