Spot-Billed Pelican in flight
Clicked while on the hunt for fish at the famous Ranganathittu Bird Sanctuary. Like most other Pelicans the Spot-billed Pelican catches fish in its huge bill pouch while swimming at the surface as seen here. This bird is a member of the Pelican family that breeds in southern Asia from southern Iran across India east to Indonesia. Easy to differentiate from other Pelicans in the same region at short range as they are smaller and also due to the spots on the upper mandible after which they are named. The species is found to breed only in peninsular India, Sri Lanka and in Cambodia. A few birds from India are known to winter in the Gangetic plains. Over the years due to habitat loss and human disturbance, their numbers have declined in Southeast Asia and are now considered as extinct in parts of China and Philippines, where the species was once abundant in the early 1900s. Though the populations in southern India are thought to be on the rise.
Spot-Billed Pelican in flight
Clicked while on the hunt for fish at the famous Ranganathittu Bird Sanctuary. Like most other Pelicans the Spot-billed Pelican catches fish in its huge bill pouch while swimming at the surface as seen here. This bird is a member of the Pelican family that breeds in southern Asia from southern Iran across India east to Indonesia. Easy to differentiate from other Pelicans in the same region at short range as they are smaller and also due to the spots on the upper mandible after which they are named. The species is found to breed only in peninsular India, Sri Lanka and in Cambodia. A few birds from India are known to winter in the Gangetic plains. Over the years due to habitat loss and human disturbance, their numbers have declined in Southeast Asia and are now considered as extinct in parts of China and Philippines, where the species was once abundant in the early 1900s. Though the populations in southern India are thought to be on the rise.