BrownPelican_PinkLegBands_Murgatroyd_SeabrookTX_7December2023_Reel4181.mp3

Rhonda Murgatroyd [00:00:00] Sometimes the oil glistens in the sun, and it looks like a fish to some of these diving birds. And a brown pelican, for instance, might dive straight down into an oil slick because of just the way it dances on the water. And they may think that it's a fish that they're diving after.

Rhonda Murgatroyd [00:00:22] So pelicans are very vulnerable...

Rhonda Murgatroyd [00:00:25] During the Deepwater Horizon, we have a lot of brown pelicans. And we had a lot of brown pelicans that got to take a ride in a Coast Guard plane to different areas of the country to get them out of the area of the impact. So, some went to Georgia. Some came over here to Texas.

Rhonda Murgatroyd [00:00:44] You can't just put them right back if the spill is still going on. So, yeah, the Coast Guard was able to fly a lot of brown pelicans to different locations to give them a way out.

Rhonda Murgatroyd [00:00:56] I do have a story about one of those brown pelicans.

Rhonda Murgatroyd [00:01:01] People often ask, why we do what we do, and does it really make a difference?

Rhonda Murgatroyd [00:01:06] Well, I believe it does.

Rhonda Murgatroyd [00:01:09] You know, we can't track every animal that we take care of and release.

Rhonda Murgatroyd [00:01:13] But there was a brown pelican that was captured. And before we release these pelicans, we put these really big, bright pink leg bands on them.

Rhonda Murgatroyd [00:01:24] And someone sent us a picture of a pelican in Georgia with a pink leg band on a nest with chicks.

Rhonda Murgatroyd [00:01:33] So that was proof positive that what we do really does matter.