Egg Success, Hatching Success, and Nest-site Selection in Brown Pelicans (Pelecanus Occidentalis) Within the Colony at Gaillard Island, Alabama

Nest-site selection can have implications of survival, variation and overall fitness of offspring. Nest-site selection in birds may be dependent on many factors. I investigated the factors that drive nest-site selection in brown pelicans. The study centered on 348 nests and 852 eggs during two breeding seasons on Gaillard Island, AL. Those brown pelicans arriving earliest chose sites that were open on the ground, but with a layer of vegetation between one and two meters above the ground. Egg success was related to arrival date, the highest vegetation layer, density of nests in a given area, and percentage of nests on the ground. Brown pelicans that arrived earliest chose more optimal sites on which to nest and had greater egg and hatching success, thus, they are choosing specific microhabitats on which to nest rather than nesting randomly.