White Pelican

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White Pelican

For the North American bird also called "White Pelican," see American White Pelican

American White Pelican

The American White Pelican or Rough-billed Pelican is a large aquatic bird from the order Pelecaniformes. It breeds in interior North America, moving south and to the coasts, up to Central America, in winter....
.

The White Pelican, Pelecanus onocrotalus also known as the Eastern White Pelican or Great White Pelican is a bird

Bird

Birds are wing, Bipedalismal, endothermic , vertebrate animals that lay egg . There are around 10,000 living species, making them the most numerous tetrapod vertebrates....
in the pelican

Pelican

A pelican is a large water bird with a distinctive pouch under the beak, belonging to the bird Family Pelecanidae.Along with the darters, cormorants, gannets, boobys, frigatebirds, and tropicbirds, pelicans make up the order Pelecaniformes....
family. It breeds from southeastern Europe

Europe

Europe is, conventionally, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally divided from Asia to its east by the water divide of the Ural Mountains, the Ural , the Caspian Sea, and by the Caucasus Mountains to the southeast....
through Asia

Asia

Asia is the world's largest and most populous continent. It covers 8.6% of the Earth's total surface area and, with over 4 billion people, it contains more than 60% of the world's current human population....
and in Africa

Africa

Swamp

A swamp is a wetland featuring temporary or permanent inundation of large areas of land, by shallow bodies of water. A swamp generally has a substantial number of hammock , or dry-land protrusions, covered by aquatic vegetation, or vegetation that tolerates periodical inundation....
s and shallow lakes. The tree nest is a crude heap of vegetation.

This is a large pelican, at a mass of 10 kg (22 lbs), 160 cm (63 in) long and with a 280 cm (110 inch) wingspan.

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Encyclopedia

For the North American bird also called "White Pelican," see American White Pelican

American White Pelican

Bird

Birds are wing, Bipedalismal, endothermic , vertebrate animals that lay egg . There are around 10,000 living species, making them the most numerous tetrapod vertebrates....
in the pelican

Pelican

Europe

Asia

Africa

Swamp

Dalmatian Pelican

The Dalmatian Pelican is a member of the pelican family. It breeds from southeastern Europe through Asia to China in swamps and shallow lakes....
, the only larger species of pelican, by its pure white, rather than greyish-white, plumage, a bare pink facial patch around the eye and pinkish legs. Males are larger than females, and have a long beak that grows in a downwards arc, as opposed to the shorter, straighter beak of the female. Immature birds are grey and have dark flight feather

Feather

Feathers are one of the epidermal growths that form the distinctive outer covering, or plumage, on birds. They are considered the most complex integumentary structures found in vertebrates....
s.

More than 50% of White Pelicans breed in the Danube Delta

Danube Delta

The Danube river delta is the second largest delta in Europe, after the Volga Delta, and is the best preserved on the continent . The greater part of the Danube Delta lies in Romania , while its northern part, on the left bank of the Chilia arm, is situated in Ukraine ....
. This pelican migrates

Bird migration

Bird migration refers to the regular seasonal journeys undertaken by many species of birds. Bird movements include those made in response to changes in food availability, habitat or weather....
short distances, wintering in northeast Africa

Africa

Africa is the world's second-largest and second most-populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km? including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area....
. In flight, it is an elegant soaring bird, with the head held close to and aligned with the body by a downward bend in the neck.

Pelicans catch fish in their huge bill pouches, most, like this species, while swimming at the surface.

Like the Dalmatian Pelican

Dalmatian Pelican

The Dalmatian Pelican is a member of the pelican family. It breeds from southeastern Europe through Asia to China in swamps and shallow lakes....
, this species has declined greatly through habitat loss and persecution.

The White Pelican is one of the species to which the Agreement on the Conservation of African-Eurasian Migratory Waterbirds (AEWA

AEWA

The Agreement on the Conservation of African-Eurasian Migratory Waterbirds is the largest of its kind developed so far under the Bonn Convention....
) applies.

There is a group of three semi-wild white pelicans living on Pelican Island, St. James's Park

St. James's Park

St. James's Park is a 58 acre park in City of Westminster, central London, the oldest of the Royal Parks of London. The park lies at the southernmost tip of the St....
, London

London

London is the capital of both England and the United Kingdom, and the most populous municipality in the European Union. An important settlement for two millennia, History of London goes back to its founding by the Roman Empire....
. Their ancestors were originally given to Charles II

Charles II of England

Charles II was the Monarchy of Kingdom of England, Kingdom of Scotland, and Kingdom of Ireland.His father Charles I of England Regicide#The regicide of Charles I of England at Palace of Whitehall on 30 January 1649, at the climax of the English Civil War....
by Russian Ambassadors in 1664 which initiated the tradition of ambassadors donating the birds.

Gallery

External links

on the Internet Bird Collection