Order: Pelacaniformes

Family: Pelacanidae

 

Size:  upto 140 to 180 cm in length and 226 to 360 cm in wingspan

Weight: Adult males: 9 to 15 kg; Adult females: 5.4 to 9 kg

 

Key Features: Immature great white pelicans are grey and have dark flight feathers. In flight, it is an elegant soaring bird, with the head held close to and aligned with the body by a downward bend in the neck. In breeding condition the male has pinkish skin on its face and the female has orangey skin.  It differs from the Dalmatian pelican by its pure white, rather than greyish-white, plumage, a bare pink facial patch around the eye and pinkish legs. Males are larger than females, and have a long beak that grows in a downwards arc, as opposed to the shorter, straighter beak of the female. The spot-billed pelican of Asia is slightly smaller than the great white, with clear brownish-grey plumage and a paler, duller-colored bill. Similarly, the pink-backed pelican is smaller with brownish-grey plumage, with a light pink to off-grey bill and a pinkish wash to the back.

 

Voice:  humming and growling calls are heard at the colonies.

 

Breeding: The breeding season commences in April or May in temperate zones, essentially all year around in Africa and begins in February through April in India. Large numbers of these pelicans breed together in colonies. The female can lay around 1 to 4 eggs in a clutch, with two being the average. Nest locations are variable. The incubation stage lasts for 29 to 36 days. The chicks are naked when they hatch but quickly sprout blackish-brown down. The colony gathers in "pods" around 20 to 25 days after the eggs hatch. The young fledge at 65 to 75 days of age. Around 64% of young successful reach adulthood, with sexual maturity attained at 3 to 4 years of age.

 

Diet:  The species is entirely piscivorous, preferentially taking fish of between 300 and 600 g in weight.

 

Habitat: The species is associated with relatively large, warm, shallow fresh, brackish, alkaline or saline lakes, lagoons, marshes, broad rivers, deltas, estuaries and coasts of landlocked seas. The species requires secure areas of extensive reedbeds, wet swamps, mudflats and sandbanks or gravel and rocky substrates for nesting.

 

Habits:  The pelican's pouch serves simply as a scoop. As the pelican pushes its bill underwater, the lower bill bows out, creating a large pouch which fills with water and fish. As the bird lifts its head, the pouch contracts forcing out the water while retaining the fish. A group of 6 to 8 great white pelicans will gather in a horseshoe formation in the water to feed together. They dip their bills in unison, creating a circle of open pouches, ready to trap every fish in the area. Most feeding is cooperative and done in groups, especially in shallow waters where fish schools can be corraled easily, though these pelicans may forage alone as well.

 

Conservation Status: Least Concern on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species.

 

 

 

 

 

References:

del Hoyo, J; Elliot, A; Sargatal, J (1992). Handbook of the Birds of the World 1. Barcelona: Lynx Edicions. ISBN 84-87334-10-5.

 

Birds of East Africa by John Fanshawe & Terry Stevenson. Elsevier Science (2001), ISBN 978-0-85661-079-0.

 

BirdLife International (2014) Species factsheet: Pelecanus onocrotalus. Downloaded from http://www.birdlife.org on July 02nd, 2014.

 

Photo Courtesy

Dakoman, Licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons