New Year Brings Back a Familiar Face

n39_bbp_2016Earlier this month, a Brown Pelican with the blue band “N39” came back into care, after two previous stays with us.

This individual, who was last in care in last July for an abdominal puncture and a toe injury, was released last summer after those wounds healed. He first arrived in care nearly seven years ago at our San Francisco wildlife center after being stranded on January 29, 2010 in Monterey, California. The bird was emaciated, anemic, and had contaminated feathers. He was treated and released with the blue band “A91” in mid-February of that same year. His blue band was damaged and therefore was replaced during his second stay, and he became “N39”.

He has been spotted many times over the years through our blue-banded pelican reporting tool:

• Santa Barbara, 4/1/2010
San Pedro, 2/9/2012
Westport, WA 7/27, 7/31, and 8/13/2013
Marina del Rey, 4/5/2014
Ballona Creek 5/5/2014
Moss Landing, 1/24/2015

Now he is back with a sea lion bite! Although this is a serious injury, he is expected to heal fully as pelicans are among our most resilient patients! Learn more about our Blue-Banded Pelican Program here.

Photo by Bill Steinkamp

1 thought on “New Year Brings Back a Familiar Face”

  1. Looks like he is on the aviary cam at the SoCal facility and doing very well! Hopefully he will have a successful stay and be released soon.

    Thank you so much for all you do! 🙂

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