American White Pelican

Pelican:

COMMON NAME: American White Pelican

SCIENTIFIC NAME: Pelecanus erythrorhynchos

 

DESCRIPTION:

Pelican is a water bird and one of the heaviest of North American birds! Standing 50 -70 inches tall, white pelican has white feathers overall with black primaries and outer secondary feathers. His wingspan is 96 -114 inches; weight 10 -17 pounds. His legs and feet are orange-red; all 4 toes are connected by a web of skin, a characteristic unique to pelicans.

A breeding adult has a crest of yellow feathers and a bright orange bill with vertical horny plates on the top. Males and females look alike. Juvenile pelican has a brownish wash on his head, neck and lesser coverts.

 

LIFE HISTORY:

Migrating inland, pelican will nest in colonies from a few to hundreds of pairs. Monogamous, courtship precedes nesting. The nest may be on the ground with no nest material or a slight depression or a mound of dirt and debris; the area around it is defended. Breeding is April through June; usually 2 eggs are laid. Hatching in 36 days, both parents feeds the chicks that leave the nest in 3 -4 weeks and fledge at 8 weeks. Their main enemies are gulls that eat the eggs.

ECOLOGY:

Niche: His huge throat pouch is used as a dip net to catch fish. Pelican eats 3 -4 pounds of fish every day, with an occasional salamander or crayfish. White pelican does not dive, but dips his bill into the water while swimming. His bill may collect 3 gallons in volume; he squeezes the water out from the corners of his mouth before swallowing the trapped foods.

A group of pelicans may fish cooperatively. They will form a semi-circle between a school of fish and the shore. They will begin to slap their wings against the water and paddle swiftly; this drives the fish close to the shore. The pelicans move in to easily scoop up fish.

Pelican eats fish of little commercial value, so does not compete with commercial fishermen.

Habitat: Common and abundant, flocks of pelicans winter around San Francisco Bay, the northern Central Valley, the Salton Sea and the west coast. Breeding season takes him to isolated islands in inland lakes in North America.

Once abundant throughout the Central Valley, his range has been reduced by drainage of lakes and development. Pelicans, as a group, have been on Earth since the late Cretaceous, 75 million years ago (MYA), and locally since the Miocene, 20 MYA.

 

The Audubon Society Encyclopedia of North American Birds by John K Terres. ISBN# 0-517-03288-0.

National Geographic Society Field Guide to the Birds of North America, second edition. ISBN# 0-87044-692-4.

www.AllAboutBirds.org/guide/American_White_Pelican.id

www.dfg.ca.gov/biogeodata/cwhr/cawildlife.aspx


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