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More About Pelicans ...
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A pelican is any of several very large water birds with a distinctive pouch under the beak belonging to the bird family Pelecanidae. Along with the darters, cormorants, gannets, boobies, frigatebirds, and tropicbirds, they make up the order Pelecaniformes. Like other birds in that group, pelicans have all four toes webbed (they are totipalmate).
They use two different ways to feed:
Group fishing, used by white pelicans all over the world. 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.
Plunge-diving, used almost exclusively by the American Brown Pelican, but only rarely by white pelicans like the Peruvian Pelican of the western South American coast, or the Australian Pelican.
Pelicans can grow to a wingspan of three meters and weigh 13 kilograms, males being a little larger than females and having a longer bill.
From the fossil record, it is known that pelicans have been around for over 40 million years. Modern pelicans are found on all continents except Antarctica: they are birds of inland and coastal waters and are absent from polar regions, the deep ocean, oceanic islands, and inland South America.
Pelicans are gregarious and nest colonially, the male bringing the material, the female heaping it up to form a simple structure. Pairs are monogamous for a single season but the pair bond extends only to the nesting area; away from the nest mates are independent.
Because of its large beak and pouch, the pelican has a particular place in the public imagination: as one poet wrote, "A wonderful bird is the pelican; his beak can hold more than his belly can..." .
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Taxonmony
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Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order: Pelecaniformes
Family: Pelecanidae
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Source: Wikipedia Read more about Pelicans
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INFO LINKS
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American White Pelican
Gough, G.A., Sauer, J.R., Iliff, M. Patuxent Bird Identification Infocenter. 1998. Version 97.1. Patuxent Wildlife Research Center, Laurel, MD
USGS data sheet on American White Pelican, including photographs, maps, taxonomy, identification tips, and life history information. Read More
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Brown Pelican
Gough, G.A., Sauer, J.R., Iliff, M. Patuxent Bird Identification Infocenter. 1998. Version 97.1. Patuxent Wildlife Research Center, Laurel, MD
USGS data sheet on Brown Pelican, including photographs, maps, taxonomy, identification tips, and life history information. Read More
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Brown Pelican
Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology
Brown Pelican fact sheet Read More
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American White Pelican
eNature.com
Pictures, Sounds, and information about American White Pelican Read More
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pelican
BBCi
About Pelican's beak. Easy to read Read More
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Pelican
National Geographic
Pelican fact sheet and pictures; video clip; audio clip Read More
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White Pelican
The Longpoint schoolhouse
"The White pelican is one of six pelican species found throughout tropical, subtropical, and temperate regions of the world". Brief Narrative Read More
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Pelican
Bird Families of the World - Dan Roberson
Details about the Pelecanidae family including pictures and good print references Read More
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White Pelican
raysweb.net
Information on status, habitat, appearance, food, breeding, lifespan, riskfactors, etc. Read More
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Pelican
Wikipedia.Org
General information in a narrative format Read More
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Brown Pelican
National Zoo
Brown Pelican fact sheet Read More
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American White Pelican
Bird Friends Of Lake Murray And San Diego County
American White Pelican pictures, description, and more Read More
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Brown Pelican
Bird Friends Of Lake Murray And San Diego County
Brown Pelican pictures, description, and more Read More
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American White Pelican
Cornell Lab of Ornithology
Extensive species account including range map, call details, 'cool facts', etc. Read More
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Brown Pelican
Cornell Lab of Ornithology
Extensive species account including range map, call details, 'cool facts', etc. Read More
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White Pelican
Honolulu Zoo
"Pelicans are relatively light birds with large bodies". Read More
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Great White Pelican
Kenya Birds
Image and brief information Read More
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Pink-backed Pelican
Kenya Birds
Images and Brief Information Read More
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Pelican
About.com
It lists all the different species of pelicans and links for them Read More
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Brown Pelican
Birds in Suriname
Brief description, pictures, and distribution map for Surinam Read More
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Australian Pelican
Australian Museum Online
Description of Australian Pelican, with nice pictures and references Read More
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American White Pelican
Calgary's Weaselhead Society
About American White Pelican Read More
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Peruvian Pelican
AvesdeChile.cl (Spanish)
Brief narrative about Peruvian Pelican Read More
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Pelican
Kidport.com
Information on sea birds and how they are adapted for it. Read More
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Chilean Pelican
Aves de Chile (Spanish)
Brief description of Chilean Pelican Read More
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Eastern Brown Pelican
Houston Zoo
About Eastern Brown Pelican Read More
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