Pelican bird description. Pink pelican - description, habitat, interesting facts. Reproduction and care of offspring

Pelicans live in almost all warm latitudes of all continents. The main habitat is considered to be areas located near the seas and oceans. They have a very strange beak shape, which many people think is that this item gives the bird excessive inconvenience. However, mother nature is smart, and this beak is a receptacle for caught fish, working on the principle of a fishing net, which does not affect flight and swimming qualities in any way. Pelicans live in flocks, where the dominance of individual individuals is expressed.

The main source of food for pelicans is the sea or ocean. They feed on fish, crabs and jellyfish. “Fishing” is a very interesting activity for these birds. Moreover, the manner of fishing for food is distinctive and depends on belonging to a particular species.

Some species prefer collective "fishing". Lined up, they loudly flap their wings against the water, driving the fish into shallow water, where it becomes easily accessible. Sometimes pelicans have to dive deep into the sea for prey. They are excellent swimmers and divers.

Pelicans nest in trees or shrubs, build large nests for themselves using reeds, small twigs and dry foliage.
Pelicans feed their chicks with overcooked fish. To do this, parents have to burp the contents of the stomach back into the beak pouch. From there, the chicks get food already in the semi-digested form.

A relative of the pink pelican, the Australian pelican reaches 188 cm in length.

The curly pelican is the largest species not only among relatives of closely related species. This bird is barely inferior to large swans

The Dalmatian Pelican and the Wandering Albatross have the largest wingspan, over 350 cm.

There are the following types of pelicans:

Curly Pelican (Pelecanus Crisp)
pink pelican, woman pelican (Pelecanus onocrotalus)
Australian Pelican (Pelecanus Conspicillatus)
Indian Pelican (Pelecanus philippensis)
Lesser Pelican (Pelecanus rufescens)
dzioborogi Pelican (Pelecanus erythrorhynchos)
Brown Pelican (Pelecanus western)
Chilean Pelican (Pelecanus thagus) - isolated from western species

Curly Pelican

Its wingspan reaches 350 cm.
The largest representatives of this species reach 183 cm in length.
Under the skin, they have special "airbags" that allow them to easily float on the surface of the water.
The flight speed of the pelican is over 50 km/h.
The elastic beak bag can be stretched to the point where it can easily hold up to 13 liters of water or food.

* Length: 160-183cm (188cm Australian Pelican)
* Wingspan: 290-351cm
* Weight: 11-15kg
* Beak length: 36-45cm (Australian pelican 50cm)
* Average life expectancy: 25 years

Pelicans are adorable creatures! These are not just giant birds with a wingspan of more than 5 meters, these are birds that can fly to a height of 3000 meters!

There are 8 types of pelicans in the world. These birds inhabit all continents except Antarctica. Most pelicans live in warm regions, near coasts and estuaries, where they feed on fish, crustaceans, tadpoles, and even turtles.

When the pelican has caught the prey in the beak bag, he squeezes the water out to the sides, then moves the food until it falls into his throat, after which he swallows it.

Pelicans may hunt fish in groups. In order to catch fish more conveniently, they can beat their wings on the water to direct the fish to shallow water. The hook on the top of the beak helps to fix slippery food, and sometimes helps to catch large fish, toss them up, and then swallow them in one gulp.

The pelican has the largest and most capacious beak, compared to all the birds on the planet. A pelican can hold 3 medium buckets of fish in its beak.

Even though pelicans are among the heaviest flying birds, their skeleton makes up only 1/10 of their total body weight. Air sacs among the bones give extra buoyancy. Pelicans also have air sacs under the skin on the throat, on the chest, and under the wings. Bags help birds swim better, improve flight aerodynamics, and mitigate the effects of diving for fish.

Pelicans breathe through their beaks. They don't have nostrils.

Pelicans are good-natured birds that live in their flocks without conflict.

Pelicans (lat. Relecanus) is a genus of birds that is the only one in the Pelican family (Relecanidae). There are only eight known species belonging to the Pelican-like order, of which two species live on the territory of our country.

Description of the pelican

Representatives of the genus Pelicans are the largest birds in size in their order.. To date, this genus includes species represented by:

• Australian pelican (R. conspicillatus);
• Dalmatian pelican (P.crispus);
• American brown pelican (R. ossidentalis);
• American white pelican (P.erythrorhynchos);
• Pink pelican (P. onosrotalus);
• Pink-backed pelican (P. rufessens);
• Gray pelican (R. philiprensis);
• View of Pelecanus thagus.

All species of the Pelican family and the genus Pelicans inhabiting temperate latitudes belong to the category of migratory birds.

Appearance

The average body length of an adult pelican is 1.3-1.8 m, with a weight in the range of 7-14 kg. The shape or appearance of the bird is very characteristic of Relecanidae and is represented by an awkward but very massive body, large wings, short and thick legs with a wide membrane between the fingers, and a short and rounded tail. The neck of the bird is quite long and well developed. Beak with a total length of no more than 46-47 cm, with a kind of hook at the tip.

The underside of the pelican's beak is distinguished by the presence of a highly extensible leather bag used by the bird to catch various fish. The plumage of a pelican is of a loose type, loosely attached to the body. The bird often “squeezes out” quickly wet feathers with the help of its beak. The color of representatives of the Pelican family and the genus Pelicans is always light - pure white, in grayish tones, often with a pinkish tint. Flight feathers are characterized by dark coloration.

It is interesting! A feature of all pelicans is the peculiar voice data of the bird during the nesting period - a rather loud and deaf roar, and the rest of the time, representatives of this genus are silent.

The beak and bare parts of the head have a fairly bright color, especially noticeable with the onset of the mating season. Feathers in the back of the head often form a kind of tuft. Females are smaller in size and also less brightly colored compared to males. The young pelican is characterized by a dirty brown or grayish plumage color.

Character and lifestyle

There is no specific strict hierarchy in flocks of pelicans. It is life in such a very friendly and close-knit company that allows water birds to provide sufficient security.

In any flock there are several vigilant observers who notify the entire flock of danger approaching the birds, after which the technique of repelling the enemy is used. Sometimes small conflicts can arise among pelicans of the same flock, which are provoked by the extraction of food or the search for building materials for arranging nests.

It is interesting! When flying, thanks to a long and rather heavy beak, pelicans keep their neck in the position of the letter S, which resembles a heron and a marabou in appearance.

Infrequent fights between some members of the Pelicans genus are a battle of rivals with large beaks. In order to take off, such a fairly large bird must be provided with a good run. Pelicans are able to soar in the air for a long time, using air currents for this purpose. In the process of flights over long distances, it is especially difficult for the leader, who sets the pace for the flight of the entire flock. It is for this reason that the leading birds during the flight of the flock replace each other at certain intervals.

How long do pelicans live

In captivity, pelicans are able to live up to thirty years, due to favorable conditions of detention and the complete absence of natural enemies. In the wild, the maximum life expectancy of representatives of the Pelicans genus is noticeably less.

Range, habitats

Australian pelicans are found almost throughout Australia and New Guinea, as well as in western Indonesia. Single arrivals include cases of the appearance of the Australian pelican, which are registered in New Zealand, on the islands in the Western Pacific Ocean.

It is interesting! In Australia, such pelicans are most often found in fresh water bodies or near the sea coast, as well as in large swampy areas and in estuaries, in inland temporary water bodies and in coastal island zones.

Dalmatian pelicans (Relecanus crispus) inhabit hard-to-reach lake areas, lower reaches and river deltas, characterized by the presence of abundant aquatic vegetation. Sometimes such birds settle on reservoirs with salty waters and on slightly overgrown small island areas. One of the largest populations of the red-billed or American white pelican (Relecanus erythrorhynchos) has been observed on the Aptekarsky Lake of the US state of Montana over the past thirty years. American brown pelicans (Relecanus ossidentalis) inhabit waterless and desert islets located along the coast of Chile, which contributes to the accumulation of many meters of guano in such zones.

The range of distribution of the Pink Pelican (Relecanus onosrotalus) is represented by the South-Eastern part of Europe and Africa, as well as Western, Central and South-Western Asia. The gray pelican (Relecanus philiprensis) lives in the territories of southeast and southern Asia, and also nests from Indonesia to India, preferring shallow lakes.

Pink-backed pelicans (Relecanus rufessens) breed in lakes and swamps throughout sub-Saharan Africa, Madagascar and South Arabia. Many members of the pink-backed pelican prefer to nest in trees, including baobabs.

Pelican Diet

The main diet of pelicans is represented by fish, which such birds catch by lowering their heads under water.. It is in the water that representatives of the Pelican genus grab prey with their beaks that rise closer to the surface. The beak of pelicans is distinguished by simply excellent sensitivity, which allows the bird to easily find food for itself in the water column. On the beak of pelicans there is a special hook bent down, thanks to which slippery prey is held very well.

Deployed prey is swallowed with a sharp jerk of the head. It should be noted that the pelican's throat pouch is never used by the bird to store food. This part of the beak serves solely for the purpose of temporarily holding the fish. Pelicans, which are inhabitants of salt water bodies, are able to use their beak to collect drinking rainwater.

It is interesting! As soon as the pelican catches the fish in its beak, it closes it and presses it to the chest, during which the prey turns upside down towards the throat.

Pelicans go hunting alone, but they can also gather in flocks, which are sometimes very large. Such a group of birds surrounds the discovered school of fish, after which the prey is driven to the shallows. Pelicans at such a moment very actively beat the water with their wings, after which the fish that has become very accessible is caught with its beak. Sometimes gulls, cormorants and terns can join the joint hunt. During the day, the pelican eats a little more than a kilogram of freshly caught fish.

In addition to fish, the diet of representatives of the Pelican family and the genus Pelicans is periodically supplemented with all kinds of crustaceans, adult amphibians and tadpoles, as well as juveniles of small turtles.

Rather willingly accept such birds and food from humans. In conditions of a pronounced shortage of habitual food, adult and large pelicans are able to catch ducklings or gulls, and also easily beat off prey from some other species of water birds.

Almost everyone has heard about this amazing bird. It belongs to the pelican family and has several species. Pelicans are common in tropical and temperate zones on almost all continents.

In our country, there are two types of these birds: pink and curly pelican.

Pelican: appearance, habitat

This is a very large migratory bird, its length can reach two meters, and its wingspan is up to three meters.

They are - the largest among waterfowl belonging to the detachment of copepods. The main habitat is the territories located on the coast of the seas and oceans.

They settle in trees, building rather large nests, using reeds, small branches and dry foliage for their construction.

All naturally occurring species of pelicans are several different among themselves, and it depends on the environment. They mostly have white feathers.

These birds differ from others in some features:

Main diet The food for this waterfowl is the fish that it catches in shallow water, as it cannot dive. Despite the fact that on land it looks very awkward, the pelican keeps well on the surface of the water, as it has an air-bubble layer under the skin.

The lifestyle of pelicans and their diet

As mentioned above, they mainly live on the banks of large reservoirs, eating fish, crabs, and jellyfish. fish mostly mined in shallow water, driving it there with the help of wings, with which they flap on the surface of the water.

Some species prefer to forage together with other bird species, gulls, cormorants, as well as in the community of other pelicans. The leather bag in which they put the fish can also be used to collect twigs during nest building.

Despite their unusual and strange appearance, it is very peaceful birds. They prefer to live in packs, which can number up to several thousand individuals. As such, there is no leader in the pack, and, living in a large friendly pack, they provide themselves safety. Vigilant observers inform the entire flock of the approaching danger, and she is ready to scare or drive away the culprit of the calm.

Pelicans rarely have conflicts among themselves, which end in duels with beaks. Although the bird is a little clumsy on land, it feels great in the air, using air currents when flying. During long-distance flights, it is especially difficult for the leader, who sets the pace of the flight, so they constantly replace each other.

To hatch offspring, pairs are formed only for one season, mainly there are two or three eggs in the clutch, which the female incubates for about one and a half months.

The female pelican is engaged in the construction of the nest, the males are engaged in the preparation of material for construction, it happens that pelicans build common nests for several pairs.

Mortality among young animals is very high, since they emerge from eggs blind and naked, besides, it also depends on weather conditions, attack by predators, starvation and other reasons.

Both parents feed the chicks with digested food, which they regurgitate from the stomach into the beak. After two weeks, the young begin to fledge, but for another two long months, until they take to the wing, the parents will carefully care for and feed them. The life expectancy of these birds depends on many factors, but basically it lasts about twenty years.

Varieties of pelicans

There are other varieties of pelicans: Australian, Californian and others.

Population size

Gradually the number of this amazing bird shrinking, and this is due to the use of pesticides, which negatively affected the population of these birds. Some species are listed in the Red Book.

In a number of countries, they are trying to breed them in captivity, but like all gregarious birds, they breed poorly, although they live to be almost twenty years old.

The pelican can be found in fairy tales and legends, its image is used in some countries in heraldry, mythology, and it is also mentioned in some religions.

Pelicans- lat. Pelecanus, belong to the pelican family, representatives of the bird class. The distant ancestors of pelicans appeared on Earth about 100 million years ago. Since ancient times, the pelican has aroused the keen interest of man, and some peoples even revere it as a sacred bird.

Habitat and reproduction

The pelican is a migratory bird that lives in the southern part of Europe, along the shores of the Black Sea, in the thickets of rivers flowing into the Caspian Sea, on the Aral Sea, and also in Africa. Birds nesting in Europe and North Africa migrate to southern and central Africa for the winter, while Asiatic pelicans winter in India. For nesting, birds choose hard-to-reach shores densely overgrown with reeds, or islands and sandy spits on lakes. Outside the nesting season, pelicans live along the shores of lakes or swamps, in lagoons, river estuaries and coastal waters of the seas, successfully hunting in brackish and salty waters.

Pelican breeding season lasts from mid-April to mid-September. Birds look for a mate in many ways. Outside the nesting colony, the female approaches a group of current males and chooses a mate. Then the couple steps aside, and the male tries to mate with his mate. In nesting areas, the mating ritual of pelicans looks different. This time, the males approach groups of females and begin to lek, pacing in front of them with a low mutter, and sometimes gather in a circle and rub their beaks. At first, the females keep to themselves, but soon the cavaliers approach the females singly or in groups, and they choose their partners. Then the couple flies to the water, where the boyfriend swims around his chosen one. Coming to land, the male puffs up his feathers, spreads his wings and continues to court his mate. Having found a place for a nest, the female rakes the ground with her beak, sits down in a hole and admits a partner to her person.

After mating, the male begins to collect building material in his beak and brings it to his wife, and she builds a nest from it. Having completed the construction, the female lays one egg, a month later another one, after which both parents incubate the clutch for 29-36 days. With an interval of one month, naked chicks are born. At first, they need constant heating, but soon they become overgrown with dark fluff. Parents alternately feed their babies with regurgitated liquid food, and two-week-old chicks take out small fish by thrusting their beak into the parent's throat pouch. At 3 weeks old, juveniles gather in the "nursery" under the supervision of several adult birds, while the rest are engaged in hunting. By the end of the second month of life, young pelicans already know how to swim and fish, and at 65-70 days they become winged and gain independence. Pelican reaches sexual maturity at the age of 3-4 years.

Lifestyle

Pelicans live in large flocks that can number from 5 to 10 thousand birds. There is no hierarchy in the flock, but life in such a large company provides the birds with greater security. Having gathered in a close-knit gang, it is always easier to drive away the aggressor, besides, vigilant watchmen can warn relatives of the approaching threat at any time. Pelicans treat each other very peacefully and show almost no hostility; only in very rare cases do fights break out over prey or building material for the nest. Having started a duel, opponents painfully beat each other with hooked beaks. The pink pelican is one of the most massive flying birds on the planet. It can take off only from a running start, often and noisily beating the air with its wings, but in flight, the flapping of huge wings becomes measured and powerful. Pelican often resorts to soaring, skillfully using ascending air currents. On a long journey, pelicans usually fly in a wedge, and since the leader has the hardest time of all, the birds replace each other from time to time. Outside of the nesting season, pelicans settle near their fishing grounds, finding a place in coastal reeds for daytime rest and lodging for the night. Sometimes pelicans settle down to rest on windswept islets and sandbanks with good visibility, and only occasionally sit on tree branches. They feed on various types of fish - primarily schooling trifles. Most often, birds hunt in shallow water in groups of 6-20 individuals. Having settled down in a semicircle, pelicans swim forward in dense formation, drive the fish flock to the shore and, plunging their heads into the water, catch their prey with nets of throat bags. Caught fish, the pelican throws up in the air to turn it head first, and then swallows it. Sometimes pelicans hunt alone.

Pelican Guard

The pink pelican is protected by law, but the draining of swamps, water pollution and mowing of floodplains pose a serious threat to its existence, depriving it of its usual nesting sites. The greatest danger threatens the European curly pelican. If millions of these birds lived on the continent in the 19th century, no more than 670-1300 pairs have survived to this day.

Pelican Features

The pink pelican's skin throat pouch, densely permeated with capillaries, holds 12 liters. The bird often uses it for thermoregulation: in extreme heat it opens its beak and vigorously moves its head from side to side. In such a simple way, the blood flowing in the walls of the bag is cooled.

A pelican is able to swallow a rather large fish, for example, a carp weighing up to 2 kg. An adult pelican needs 900-1200 g of food daily, and during the period of feeding chicks, it can carry up to 4 kg of fish in its throat bag.

In the distant past, there was a belief that pelican chicks eat the insides of their parents. Since then, the pelican has become a symbol of parental self-denial, although it has long been known that this is just a beautiful legend.

Class - birds (aves)
Order - pelicans (pelecaniformes)
Family - pelicans (pelecanidae)
Genus - pelicans (pelecanus)