Pelican Feeding
Daily at 12 Noon, at the san remo foreshore
Just steps from the San Remo Pier, one of Phillip Island’s most-loved daily traditions unfolds right on the water’s edge. Every day at 12 pm, the San Remo Fishermen’s Co-op hosts a free public pelican feeding that draws more than 50,000 visitors a year, making it San Remo’s most-attended free event and a true bucket-list moment for anyone visiting the Bass Coast.
More than a feed, it’s an open-air classroom.
Our daily pelican session is far more than a snack for the birds. It’s a free live show and educational talk, led by trained feeders who share stories about the pelicans of San Remo and their life in Westernport Bay. It’s also our daily chance to check on the flock, see who’s about, and gather information on the birds over time. Bring the kids, bring the camera, and get ready to meet the biggest bills in the bird world up close.
A tiny snack from our own fish shop
What the pelicans get is just a small treat of fresh seafood offcuts from our in-house processing, part of our no-waste operation, where every part of each catch has a purpose. It’s only a tiny fraction of what they eat each day. The pelicans of San Remo are free birds who fish for themselves.
On any given day, you might see anywhere from 5 to 70 pelicans on the foreshore.
Live pelican data
Ever wondered how many pelicans turned up yesterday, whether more come in at high tide, or which day of 2024 broke the all-time record? Every daily feed is logged at pelicanpulse.org, our free live dashboard where you can explore counts of males, females and juveniles, visitor and stingray sightings, monthly and yearly trends, record days, and how the numbers change with tide, weather and feeder. The data goes back to 1 January 2022, so you can watch the flock grow over the years, and check the count from the very feed you just watched.
Current H5 bird flu update
For the current H5 bird flu situation and answers to common questions, see the H5 Update page on pelicanpulse.org. The daily feed continues in line with our internal Bird Flu Response Plan and current Victorian Government guidance.
Make a day of it
After the pelican show, take a stroll along the San Remo Pier jetties, where you can often spot a family of stingrays gliding through the clear water below. And once you’ve seen the pelicans tucking into their fresh fish, it’s pretty hard to walk past our waterfront Fish and Chips shop without grabbing some yourself, caught by our member fishers, unloaded metres from the kitchen, and cooked fresh in-house. Ocean to plate, the way it should be.
History of Pelican Feeding in San Remo
Feeding the pelicans at San Remo goes back generations, starting with local fishermen tossing them the day’s offcuts straight from the boats. The tradition became a daily 12 pm ritual in 1985, when Warren Dickie became the first regular pelican feeder in San Remo. Four decades on, the pelicans know exactly when lunchtime is, and they usually turn up early, in hungry anticipation of the crowd and the feeder.
Pelican Feeding on San Remo, Philip Island started by Warren Dickie- Talk to the Animals – Channel 7 – 1997