PELICANS
G'day folks,
Welcome to some of the biggest birds I've ever photographed. Pelicans are a genus of large water birds that makes up the family
Pelecanidae. They are characterised by a long beak and a large throat
pouch used for catching prey and draining water from the scooped up
contents before swallowing.
There are
more than half a dozen species of pelicans, but all of them have the famous
throat pouch for which the birds are best known. These large birds use their
elastic pouches to catch fish—though different species use it in different
ways.
Many
pelicans fish by swimming in cooperative groups. They may form a line or a
"U" shape and drive fish into shallow water by beating their wings on
the surface. When fish congregate in the shallows, the pelicans simply scoop
them up. The brown pelican, on the other hand, dives on fish (usually a type of
herring called menhaden) from above and snares them in its bill. Pelicans do
not store fish in their pouch, but simply use it to catch them and then tip it
back to drain out water and swallow the fish immediately.
The American white
pelican can hold some 3 gallons (11 1/2 liters) of water in its bill. Young
pelicans feed by sticking their bills into their parents' throats to retrieve
food.
Pelicans
are found on many of the world's coastlines and also along lakes and rivers.
They are social birds and typically travel in flocks, often strung out in a
line. They also breed in groups called colonies, which typically gather on
islands.
In North
America, the brown pelican is endangered, but populations are recovering to
some extent. The sea birds were devastated by chemical pesticides, such as DDT,
which damaged the eggs of pelicans and many other species.
Clancy's comment: Wow, just watching them gobble up food is gob smacking.
I'm ...
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