Brown Pelican Pelecanus Occidentalis
A pelican is large water bird with a distinctive pouch under the
beak, belonging to the bird family Pelecanidae.
Along with the darters, cormorants, gannets, boobies, frigatebirds, and
tropicbirds, pelicans make up the order Pelecaniformes. Modern pelicans
are found on all continents except Antarctica. They occur mostly in warm
regions, though breeding ranges reach 45° south (Australian Pelican, P.
conspicillatus) and 60° North (American White Pelicans, P.
erythrorhynchos, in western Canada).
Pelicans are large birds with enormous, pouched bills. The smallest
is the Brown Pelican (P. occidentalis), small individuals of which can
be as little as 2.75 kg (6 lb), 106 cm (42 in) long and can have a
wingspan of as little as 1.83 m (6 ft). The largest is believed to be
the Dalmatian Pelican (P. crispus), at up to 15 kg (33 lb), 183 cm (72
in) long, with a maximum wingspan of nearly 3.5 m (11.5 ft). The
Australian Pelican has the longest bill of any bird.
Pelicans swim well with their short, strong legs and their feet with all
four toes webbed (as in all birds placed in the order Pelecaniformes).
The tail is short and square, with 20 to 24 feathers. The wings are long
and have the unusually large number of 30 to 35 secondary flight
feathers. A layer of special fibers deep in the breast muscles can hold
the wings rigidly horizontal for gliding and soaring. Thus they can
exploit thermals to commute over 150 km (100 miles) to feeding areas.
The regular diet of a Pelican usually consists of fish, but they also
eat amphibians, crustaceans and on some occasions, smaller birds. They
often catch fish by expanding the throat pouch. Then they must drain the
pouch above the surface before they can swallow. This operation takes up
to a minute, during which time other seabirds are particularly likely to
steal the fish. Pelicans in their turn sometimes pirate prey from other
seabirds.
The white pelicans often fish in groups. They will form a line to chase
schools of small fish into shallow water, and then simply scoop them up.
Large fish are caught with the bill-tip, then tossed up in the air to be
caught and slid into the gullet head first.
The Brown Pelican of North America usually plunge-dives for its prey.
Rarely, other species such as the Peruvian Pelican and the Australian
Pelican practice this method.
