Baby pelicans starving along Calif. coast

By MARCUS WOHLSEN, Associated Press Writer
Fri Jun 23, 10:48 PM ET

CORDELIA, Calif. - Miles from the shoreline, 10 baby brown pelicans lounge by a pool in a roomy cage, large buckets of fish there for the taking. Just days ago, these birds could not feed themselves at all. Scores of starving baby pelicans — emaciated, cold and too weak to fly — are washing up on California beaches in disturbing numbers this spring.

The underfed California brown pelicans have stirred concerns over the endangered species, which in recent years has shown strong signs of recovery. Biologists say the recovery could actually be the source of the problem: There are more pelicans competing for food.

The International Bird Rescue Research Center in Cordelia, in the grassy hills about 50 miles northeast of San Francisco, has taken in almost two dozen pelicans this month, most of them near Santa Cruz and Monterey, all of them 2 to 4 months old.

The center's sister facility in San Pedro, south of Los Angeles, has cared for more than 50 Southern California birds since late May.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060624/ap_on_sc/starving_pelicans_5

people too. Blessed are the peacemakers indeed.

Blessed are the cheesemakers, and other assorted dairy produce...

:sarcasm:

at least one on every beach.

:(

These canaries, whoops, I mean pelicans cannot auger good.