Patient of the week: Brown Pelican

Photos by Isabel Luevano

Our San Francisco Bay center’s pelican aviary has been home to a solitary Brown Pelican for several months now. Cormorants, gulls and other birds have come and gone in this enclosure, but this bird’s healing is requiring more time and patience.

Upon intake in 2013, we found this male pelican was suffering from a laceration to his left patagium — a flap of skin at the leading edge of the wing, vital for flight — caused by a fishing hook/monofilament fishing line.

Currently, our patient of the week is undergoing flight exercises now that this injury has finally healed. Below, the bird can be seen playing around as one of our volunteers siphon-cleans an aviary pool.

Click here for previous patients of the week.