Scott Hanko
Pink Backed Pelican
Scientific name: Pelecanus rufescens
Country: Angola, Benin, Botswana, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Congo, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Djibouti, Egypt, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Kenya, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Mauritania, Mozambique, Namibia, Niger, Nigeria, Rwanda, Saudi Arabia, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Somalia, South Africa, Sudan, Swaziland, Tanzania, Uganda, Yemen, Zambia, Zimbabwe
Continent: Africa, Asia
Diet: Fish - piscivore, frogs - ranivore, insects - insectivore
Food & feeding: Carnivore
Habitats: Freshwater
Conservation status: Least concern
Relatives: Tropicbird, frigatebird
Description: This bird is one of the smallest of the eight pelican species, but the wing span is still around 8 ft (2.4 metres). The pelican is white, grey and pink in colour with dark grey wing tips. The top of the beak is yellow and the inside of the pouch pink. Mature individuals have long feather plumes on the back of the head. They also have a classic pelican beak with the huge throat pouch beneath.
Lifestyle: They feed on a variety of foods, including small invertebrates and amphibians but their main food is fish. Only the brown pelican dives into the water from the air. All the other species plunge their heads under the water whilst floating on the surface and fill their pouches with fish and water. They then shake the water out of the end of their beak and swallow the fish whole. Sometimes they will move away from water into drier areas to feed on locusts.
Family & friends: They usually fish in groups, stretched out in a line to surround a shoal of fish. The pelicans then duck their heads under water at exactly the same time, frightening and confusing the fish which are scooped up in the birds' pouches.
Keeping in touch: Generally this species is very quiet, making only a few grunting and hissing sounds.
Growing up: Two to three large white eggs are laid in a large stick nest and are incubated for 30 days. The chicks feed by violently plunging their heads deep into the adult's throat pouch and taking the partially digested regurgitated fish.
Birds cannot sweat, so when pelicans get hot they cool themselves instead by fluttering air over the moist skin on the inside of their throat pouches.
Bristol Zoo Gardens has successfully bred this species of pelican.
Wild Animal Park Escondido Ca.
Pink Backed Pelican
Scientific name: Pelecanus rufescens
Country: Angola, Benin, Botswana, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Congo, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Djibouti, Egypt, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Kenya, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Mauritania, Mozambique, Namibia, Niger, Nigeria, Rwanda, Saudi Arabia, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Somalia, South Africa, Sudan, Swaziland, Tanzania, Uganda, Yemen, Zambia, Zimbabwe
Continent: Africa, Asia
Diet: Fish - piscivore, frogs - ranivore, insects - insectivore
Food & feeding: Carnivore
Habitats: Freshwater
Conservation status: Least concern
Relatives: Tropicbird, frigatebird
Description: This bird is one of the smallest of the eight pelican species, but the wing span is still around 8 ft (2.4 metres). The pelican is white, grey and pink in colour with dark grey wing tips. The top of the beak is yellow and the inside of the pouch pink. Mature individuals have long feather plumes on the back of the head. They also have a classic pelican beak with the huge throat pouch beneath.
Lifestyle: They feed on a variety of foods, including small invertebrates and amphibians but their main food is fish. Only the brown pelican dives into the water from the air. All the other species plunge their heads under the water whilst floating on the surface and fill their pouches with fish and water. They then shake the water out of the end of their beak and swallow the fish whole. Sometimes they will move away from water into drier areas to feed on locusts.
Family & friends: They usually fish in groups, stretched out in a line to surround a shoal of fish. The pelicans then duck their heads under water at exactly the same time, frightening and confusing the fish which are scooped up in the birds' pouches.
Keeping in touch: Generally this species is very quiet, making only a few grunting and hissing sounds.
Growing up: Two to three large white eggs are laid in a large stick nest and are incubated for 30 days. The chicks feed by violently plunging their heads deep into the adult's throat pouch and taking the partially digested regurgitated fish.
Birds cannot sweat, so when pelicans get hot they cool themselves instead by fluttering air over the moist skin on the inside of their throat pouches.
Bristol Zoo Gardens has successfully bred this species of pelican.
Wild Animal Park Escondido Ca.