The Scoop on Pelicans

The Scoop on Pelicans!

by Whitney Wilde

Imagine that you are sitting on the beach on the coast of Louisiana . You can feel the wind blow. You hear the waves crash on the shore. You look up.

What is that strange bird in the sky? It's bigger than a sea gull, and it's bill is really long.  Suddenly, it swoops down to the water, and opens that long beak...is it carrying a sack??

You have just seen a pelican!  

Pelicans can be found in many parts of the world. There are 8 species of pelicans. The Brown Pelican is the smallest species of pelican, and the largest is the Dalmatian Pelican, which is one of  the world's largest freshwater birds. 

The average pelican can live up to 25 years in the wild, and may weigh up to 30 pounds (13.6 kilograms). 

The average pelican's body is 5.8 feet (1.77 meters) long, and has a wingspan of up to 10 feet (3.05 meters) wide. 

Male pelicans are usually larger than females. Pelicans typically breed in colonies on islands throughout the world.  Females lay 1 to 4 bluish-white eggs, and the chicks hatch after about 1 month, and live on food regurgitated from their mothers. 

The most distinctive feature of all pelicans is the bill. All pelican bills have a huge throat pouch, called a gular pouch, or gular sac. Pelicans use this pouch to catch their food. 

A pelican's gular pouch can hold up to 3 gallons of water at once. The gular pouch holds more than a pelican's stomach does!

A person's stomach can only hold about 1 gallon of food at one time! Just imagine trying to hold 3 big jugs of milk in your stomach! 

Another interesting adaptation of the pelican is it's nostrils.  A pelican's nostrils are sealed off and "buried" under their beak. Pelicans don't use their nostrils for breathing. Instead, the nostrils contain special glands that remove excess salt from their blood. Because pelicans ingest a lot of salt water when they eat, this adaptation is important to their survival. 

Pelicans are omnivores. This means they eat both meat and plants.

Fish is the most common food for pelicans. 

An adult pelican can eat up to 4 pounds (1.8 kilograms) of fish in a single day! 

Many people think that pelicans use their pouches to store food, but this is not true.  Their extensible pouch is used like a net. The birds catch the fish, push the water out, and swallow the food immediately. 

Fish are not the only thing on the pelican's menu! They also eat amphibians like frogs, toads, and salamanders. Some pelicans eat turtles, insects,  or crustaceans like crabs and lobsters.

There are even reports of pelicans eating other birds like pigeons, and some mammals!  

Different species of pelicans feed in different ways. Brown pelicans (Pelecanus occidentalis- "pel-i-CAN-us awk-see-den-TAL-is") typically capture fish by plunging through the air and diving into the water to catch fish. 

Most other pelican species swim in formation. They drive small schools of fish into an area where the pelicans can scoop them up and enjoy their meal together! 

The Brown pelican is native to North America. They are typically found along the coasts of the Atlantic and Pacific oceans, and the Gulf of Mexico. 

On the Atlantic coast, Brown pelicans can be found from the coast of North Carolina and south to the country of Venezuela. 

On the Pacific coast, they can be found from southern California south to the country of Chile. 

During nesting season, Brown pelicans can be found as far north as the territories of  British Columbia  and Nova Scotia in Canada.

The Australian pelican (Pelecanus conspicillatus- "pel-i-CAN-us con-spik-il-AT-us") is widespread both inland and on the coastal regions of Australia, New Guinea, Fiji, and parts of Indonesia. 

They typically live in areas that have a lot of open water, such as large lakes and rivers, drainage canals in farmland, and coastal lagoons . Australian pelicans prefer areas that do not have a lot of plants in the water. 

The Dalmatian pelican (Pelecanus crispus- "pel-i-CAN-us kris-PUS) lives in lakes, rivers, deltas, and estuaries in Europe, Asia, and India.  In the winter, Dalmatian pelicans often migrate from parts of Russia and Mongolia to warmer areas in India and China.

Great White Pelicans (Pelecanus onocrotalus- "pel-i-CAN-us on-o-crow-TAL-us") can be found in freshwater wetlands that have a lot of reeds and grasses for nesting. The Great White pelican lives in many parts of Europe, Asia, and Africa. 

Throughout history, pelicans have played an important role in mythology all over the world. 

In ancient Egypt, people believed that the pelican could help people safely get to the underworld for people who had died. Pelicans can be seen on the walls in Egyptian tombs. 

Pelicans were also believed to provide protection against snakes in ancient Egypt, and the pelican was even compared to a goddess! 

Among Native American tribes, the Nez Perce considered the pelican a medicine bird. It was also beleived that seeing a pelican in a dream or a vision was a sign that a person had been granted spiritual powers. 

Some California Indian tribes believed that the pelican had control  over storms and the weather. 

In California's San Francisco Bay, there is an island originally called "Los Isla de los Alcatraces", which means The Island of the Pelicans.

Alcatraz Island is the site of one of the most notorious prisons in the world. Alcatraz Prison was known for being almost impossible to escape from because it is in the middle of the San Francisco Bay. Today, Alcatraz Island is a part of the Golden Gate National Recreation Area, and is open for tours. You can still see pelicans nesting on the island, and flying across the bay. 

Pelicans have special air sacs under their skin that help them to float! 

It takes 150 pounds of fish to raise one pelican chick to adulthood. 

Pelicans have a wingspan of 9 feet (2.74 meters).

Brown Pelicans can spot a fish swimming in the ocean from 60 feet (18.29 meters) in the air. That is about the height of a 6 story building!

Archaelogists have found fossils of pelicans from 30 million years ago!

The pelican is the official bird of the state of Louisiana, and is pictured on the Louisiana quarter. 

The pelican is the national bird of the countries of Romania, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Barbados, and Sint Maarten!

A group of pelicans can be called:

a flock,

a brief,

a pod,

a pouch,

a scoop,

or a squadron!

So, what have you learned about pelicans? 

There are 8 species of these interesting freshwater birds all over the world. 

Pelicans have existed in some form or other for millions of years, and have captured the imaginations of human beings for thousand of years, all the way back to ancient Egypt. 

So remember, the next time you are sitting on a beach, whether you are in Louisiana, Greece, or Australia, look to the skies, and you may see one of the strangest looking, most captivating birds in the world!

Want to learn more about pelicans? 

Here are some great references you can check out!

Pelican. (2018). In Encylopaedia Britannica online. Retrieved from https://www.britannica.com/animal/pelican

Pelicans. (2018). In National Geographic online.  Retrieved from https://www.nationalgeographic.com/animals/birds/groups/pelicans

 Sen Nag, O. (2017). The Eight Extant Species of Pelicans. Retrieved from https://www.worldatlas.com/articles/the-eight-extant-species-of pelicans.html

Mancini, M. (2017). 10 Fun Facts about Pelicans. Retrieved from https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/515654/10-fun-facts-about-pelicans