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Dalmatian Pelican

Dalmatian Pelican

Pelecanus crispus

Identify the Dalmatian Pelican by sound or photo and log your sightings with Birdpass.

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The Dalmatian Pelican is the largest pelican and one of the heaviest flying birds, a broad-winged giant that glides with surprising grace. It breeds in wetlands from south-eastern Europe to Central and East Asia and moves short to medium distances between breeding and wintering areas. Adults are silvery white with a shaggy, curly nape and grey legs. Once greatly reduced by drainage, disturbance and persecution, it has recovered where nesting rafts and safer power lines have been provided.

Did you know?

  • It has one of the longest bills of any bird.
  • In the breeding season its throat pouch turns vivid orange-red.

About the species

Identification

A very large, silvery greyish-white pelican; adults have a curly crest on the nape and grey legs. In the breeding season the throat pouch is orange-red and there is a pale yellow patch on the breast. In flight the underwing is whitish with grey flight feathers, much less contrasting than in Great White Pelican. Young birds are grey-brown above and white below.

Family

Pelecanidae

Size

Very large (swan)

Colours

white, grey, orange

About the habitat

Swamps, shallow lakes, deltas and lagoons with islands or floating vegetation for nesting and open water for feeding.

Diet

Mainly fish, scooped up with its huge bill and expandable throat pouch in open, shallow water.

Behaviour

A powerful flier that often travels and fishes in coordinated flocks. It breeds in colonies but is less social there than other pelicans, returning to traditional sites and building crude nests of vegetation on islands or floating reed mats. In the breeding season it gives deep, harsh calls.

Sources

Photo: Dr. Raju Kasambe, CC BY-SA 4.0 https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Dalmatian Pelican Pelecanus crispus by Dr. Raju Kasambe DSCN6899 (3).jpg

Text: Wikipedia (English), CC BY-SA 4.0 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dalmatian_pelican

See also