Family Pelecanidae (Pelicans)
Posted: Tue May 22, 2012 10:37 am
Pelicans are a genus of large water birds comprising the family Pelecanidae. They are characterised by a long beak and large throat pouch used in catching prey and draining water from the scooped up contents before swallowing. They have predominantly pale plumage. 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 as well as from polar regions and the open ocean.
Long thought to be related to frigatebirds, cormorants, tropicbirds, gannets and boobies, pelicans are now known instead to be most closely related to the Shoebill and Hamerkop, and are placed in the order Pelecaniformes. Ibises, spoonbills and herons are more distant relatives, and have been classified in the same order. Pelicans frequent inland and coastal waters where they feed principally on fish, catching them at or near the water surface. Gregarious birds, they often hunt cooperatively and breed colonially. Four white-plumaged species tend to nest on the ground, and four brown or grey-plumaged species nest mainly in trees.
All pelicans share some distinct characteristics, including:
Long, broad wings suitable for extensive soaring flight
Huge bill with an extendable pouch below the lower mandible
Piscivorous diets, though they also eat other aquatic prey
Heavy body proportions and short legs that make them ungainly on land
Gregarious social behavior and colonial nesting habits
Long thought to be related to frigatebirds, cormorants, tropicbirds, gannets and boobies, pelicans are now known instead to be most closely related to the Shoebill and Hamerkop, and are placed in the order Pelecaniformes. Ibises, spoonbills and herons are more distant relatives, and have been classified in the same order. Pelicans frequent inland and coastal waters where they feed principally on fish, catching them at or near the water surface. Gregarious birds, they often hunt cooperatively and breed colonially. Four white-plumaged species tend to nest on the ground, and four brown or grey-plumaged species nest mainly in trees.
All pelicans share some distinct characteristics, including:
Long, broad wings suitable for extensive soaring flight
Huge bill with an extendable pouch below the lower mandible
Piscivorous diets, though they also eat other aquatic prey
Heavy body proportions and short legs that make them ungainly on land
Gregarious social behavior and colonial nesting habits