Among the largest of the flying birds, pelicans are famous because of their unusual appearance. They have enormous throat pouches which they use along with their bills to scoop up fish. Pelicans belong to the scientific group Pelecanus and are related to the cormorants.

Where pelicans live

As fishing birds, pelicans live around lakes, rivers, marshes, and seacoasts. They are found on and around all the Earth's continents except Antarctica. Pelicans that nest in cold regions make long autumn flights to warmer places.

Physical features

Some kinds of pelicans have been known to reach lengths up to 70 inches (180 centimeters) and weights up to 30 pounds (13 kilograms). Male pelicans tend to be a bit larger than females, but otherwise the two sexes look alike. Pelicans have webbed feet that aid in swimming and a long wingspread—up to 9 feet (2.7 meters)—that aids in flying. With their short legs, pelicans look clumsy on land.

The most notable part of a pelican is its bill, which is so long that the bird sometimes rests it upon its breast or curved neck. Attached to the underside of the bill is a large, unfeathered throat pouch. The pouch is said to have a greater carrying capacity than the bird's own stomach.

The best-known pelicans are the two species, or types, called white pelicans: the North American and the European white pelicans. Both are white with black wing feathers that show only in flight. The brown pelican is smaller and darker.

Behavior

A pelican eats several pounds of fish each day. Most species of pelicans feed from the surface of the water. Swimming pelicans often line up in a group and herd fish into the shallows. From there the fish can be scooped up easily. The brown pelican has an unusual way of feeding. It makes plunging dives from the air into the water.

Pelicans are social birds that travel in flocks. They do not call to each other, however. Except for an occasional grunt, pelicans are silent birds.

Life cycle

A male and a female pelican build a nest together, usually on the ground. The nest is generally made from reeds and clustered with other nests in a large colony. The colony is often on a small island with no mammals to threaten the birds and their young.

The female lays one to four bluish white eggs. After about one month the eggs hatch into naked, helpless chicks. It takes about two weeks for the chicks to grow their first coat of downy feathers. During this time the parents feed the chicks a diet of partially digested liquid food. Meals are served from the parent's own throat. After a few weeks the young birds start wandering around, sometimes in groups called pods. Gradually they begin to eat solid fish. After nine or ten weeks they begin to fly. A pelican is fully mature and able to start its own family at the age of 2–4 years. Pelicans can live as long as 30 years.

Pelicans and humans

From the 1940s through the 1970s the number of brown pelicans greatly decreased. This was because a pest-killing chemical called DDT had accumulated in the fish that the birds ate. DDT caused the shells of pelican eggs to break before the young were ready to hatch. After DDT was banned in 1972, the population of brown pelicans started to recover.

Waste from pelicans and other fish-eating birds accumulates in various places on the coasts of South America and Africa. This waste, called guano, is rich in the mineral phosphorus. It is harvested and used as a fertilizer.