Pelican

Share Top Five March 18, 2019

Pelicans are a genus of large water birds that make 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. They have predominantly pale plumage, the exceptions being the brown and Peruvian pelicans. The bills, pouches, and bare facial skin of all species become brightly coloured before the breeding season. The eight living pelican species have a patchy global distribution, ranging latitudinally from the tropics to the temperate zone, though they are absent from interior South America and from polar regions and the open ocean,More info:wiki

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#10 Brown Pelican,More info:ebird

#9 Brown Pelican,More info:oceana

The brown pelican is a common seabird found throughout the Americas and is an iconic symbol of the Gulf of Mexico, the basin with the largest population of this species. The brown pelican’s body is of course brown, but the head coloration is somewhat variable – often including red, yellow, orange, or white.

The brown pelican, like all seabirds, gets most of its food from marine sources. This species’ preferred prey includes small schooling fishes, like anchovies, sardines, and silversides. They feed by plunge diving. Unlike other diving birds (e.g., boobies), pelicans do not chase prey underwater and instead gulp large volumes of water, along with potential prey, near the surface. After contracting the throat muscles to expel all of the gulped water, brown pelicans can easily swallow their food. Using this method, these birds can swallow fairly large prey. However, until they expel all of the gulped water, they are unable to fly or effectively swim away and may be vulnerable to predation. Though they typically hunt in this manner, brown pelicans have been known to occasionally scavenge for dead or decaying material or to hunt for seabird chicks or even seal pups, on land.

#8 PELICAN PASSAGE,More info:mdc.mo

#7 Body of Evidence: How the White Pelican Spreads Oil,More info:audubon

The Brown Pelican became the symbol of the BP oil spill, but the White Pelican is offering clues to its lasting stain on bird populations.

In the wake of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in 2010, disturbing photographs of Brown Pelicans coated in oily sludge played nonstop on TV news and ricocheted around the Internet. Now American White Pelicans, which migrate inland (unlike their brown relatives), seem to be revealing the far-reaching consequences of the disaster more than 1,400 miles from the Gulf, at Marsh Lake on the Minnesota River, where 12,000 to 14,000 pairs nest in May and June.

Biologists from North Dakota State University and the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources have been collecting samples in the form of eggs and the odd-looking bill knobs, or nuptial tubercles, that pelicans shed after mating season. The scientists are analyzing the samples, looking for evidence of chemicals from both the oil and the dispersants used to clean up the spill

#6 PELICANS FLOCK TO PRESERVE,More info:reconnectwithnature

One of nature’s largest avian specimens – with a wingspan that can stretch more than 9 feet – makes pit stops in Will County during spring and fall migration.

The birds are American white pelicans – a species that may surprise you because most people don’t think pelicans spend any time in Illinois. But they do, and they have been for a couple of decades.

American white pelicans can be seen during these migration stopovers at McKinley Woods in Channahon.

“I watch them arrive every year,” said Erin Ecker, a program coordinator for the Forest Preserve District. “Sometimes they arrive earlier or later than normal, especially if there are tropical storms or hurricanes in the South.”