 The combined population of brown and Peruvian pelicans is estimated at 650 @,@ 000 birds , with around 250 @,@ 000 in the United States and Caribbean , and 400 @,@ 000 in Peru . The National Audubon Society estimates the global population of the brown pelican at 300 @,@ 000 . Numbers of brown pelican plummeted in the 1950s and 1960s , largely as a consequence of environmental DDT pollution , and the species was listed as endangered in the US in 1970 . With restrictions on DDT use in the US from 1972 , its population has recovered , and it was delisted in 2009 . 
