Pelicans

Nature 3 Minutes

Pelicans are a genus of large water birds that makes up the family Pelecanidae.

With 8 different species of pelicans, they can be found on all continents except for Antarctica.

Pelicans live throughout the world in tropic and temperate zones, and always near bodies of water.

Average life span in the wild is 10 to 25 years or more and up to 54 in captivity.

It is easy to identify pelicans, because they are one of the only birds with a pouch under their bill.

Along with the giant pouch, pelicans are a large bird with short legs, and they appear rather clumsy on land. Once in the water, they are strong swimmers, thanks to their webbed feet.

The largest is Dalmatian pelican (Pelecanus crispus) measuring from 5.2 to 5.9 feet in length.

The heaviest is great white pelican (Pelecanus onocrotalus) weighing from 20 to 33 pounds.

The smallest and lightest is brown pelican (Pelecanus occidentalis) measuring from 3.4 to 5 feet in length and weighing about 7.7 pounds.

The wingspan can range from 6.7 to 11.8 feet, depending on species.

Pelicans are splendid fliers and can soar like eagles with their giant wings.

Getting UP in the air can be challenging without the help of the wind. Pelicans must run over the water while beating their big wings and pounding the surface of the water with both feet in unison to get enough speed for takeoff.

They are social birds and typically travel in flocks, often strung out in a line.

Pelicans are carnivores (meat-eaters) and diurnal (hunt during the day).

While most pelicans eat fish exclusively, they can be opportunistic feeders, eating lizards, frogs, crabs and lobsters.

Many pelicans fish by swimming in cooperative groups. They may form a line or a “U” shape and drive fish into shallow water by beating their wings on the surface. When fish congregate in the shallows, the pelicans simply scoop them up.

The brown pelican, on the other hand, dives on fish (usually a type of herring called menhaden) from above and snares them in its bill.

Pelicans do not store fish in their pouch, but simply use it to catch them and then tip it back to drain out water and swallow the fish immediately.

When not eating, pelicans spend hours preening, snoozing, or sunbathing.

At dusk, pelicans all settle down for the night. Their head rests back on their shoulders, their eyes close and their feathers ruffled against the cold.

They nest in colonies in trees, bushes, or on the ground, depending on the species.

Breeding colonies often consist of hundreds of these birds all crowded onto one small island.

Males will use certain tactics to attract females during the breeding season. Certain males have colorful feathers and some others have the ability to change the color of their bill, pouch and neck into brighter colors during the interesting courtship.

Both females and males contribute to the making of the nest.

Pairs are monogamous for a single season, but the pair bond extends only to the nesting area; mates are independent away from the nest.

Females will usually lay 1 to 3 eggs and on some occasions 4 or 5 eggs. Incubation period lasts between 28 and 36 days.

The parents take turns incubating 1 to 5 bluish-white eggs, laid days apart, on the top of their feet.

The eggs hatch in the order laid, and the first chick to hatch is always larger and often attacks its younger siblings to get the most food.

The young are not fed from the pouch; instead, the parents open their mouth wide to allow the young to reach down into the gullet to get regurgitated food. The poor parents must feed their chicks up to 30 times a day for the first month of so!

By 6 to 8 weeks, they wander around, occasionally swimming, and may practice communal feeding.

Young of all species fledge 10 to 12 weeks after hatching. They may remain with their parents afterwards, but are now seldom or never fed.

They are mature at three or four years old.

Pelicans are a large bird, which makes them harder prey for most predators in their natural environment. Because of this, most animals do not hunt them. However, a wounded pelican that cannot fly is easy prey for wild dogs, feral cats and larger mammals. Humans are also predators of the pelican, hunting them for their feathers and eating the meat.

A gull often sits on a pelican’s head, trying to steal a meal when the pelican opens its bill slightly to empty out the water.

All pelicans have long bills, but the Australian pelican (Pelecanus conspkillatus) has the longest bill of any bird. The record-sized bill was 20 inches long.

The American white pelican can hold some 3 gallons of water in its bill.

Pelicans and their relatives—cormorants, gannets, and boobies—are the only birds with totipalmate feet (fully webbed; all four toes are united by ample webs).

Fossil evidence of pelicans dates back to at least 30 million years to the remains of a beak very similar to that of modern species recovered from Oligocene strata in France.

Source: JustFunFacts

Unknown's avatar

Published by pat frederick

Published

133 thoughts on “Pelicans”

    1. Morning! Interesting open – on the biggest, the white pelican, it looks like the beak is made up of layers of feathers!!! I thought they were all hard and solid, like most beaks – similar to keratin. Love the red pouch! 24 here this morning and waiting for the snow to start from the steel gray clouds.

      Liked by 1 person

  3. Liked by 1 person

    1. Liked by 1 person

  5. Liked by 1 person

        1. It’s beyond my level of comprehension, Pat – I just don’t do well in situations like that. Right is right and wrong is wrong and there is no in-between for me. I can’t wrap my mind around all of the machinations.

          Liked by 2 people

  8. Citizen 817
    Citizen 817
    January 18, 2023 12:26 am

    @realDonaldTrump

    12h
    Hunter Biden’s $49,910 Rent Matches Rental Deposit at House of Sweden with CEFC China Energy

    The Biden family had previously negotiated a deal with CEFC whereby President Joe Biden (Big Guy) would receive a ten percent equity stake in the joint venture, whistleblower Tony Bobulinski stated.
    https://www.breitbart.com/crime/2023/01/16/hunter-biden-49910-rent-matches-deposit-houseofsweden-cefc-china-energy/

    Liked by 1 person

  12. the CAMERA CREW is the giveaway

    Liked by 1 person

  14. sure, sure…it IS, until they say it isn’t. spending too much time on vacay (then he’s working there). keeping visitor logs? (nope it’s personal residence)
    FTA
    The White House has previously claimed that President Joe Biden works while taking trips to his Wilmington, Delaware, home, but it is now claiming that the residence is “personal” amid a number of classified documents being found at the address.

    During a White House press briefing on Feb. 25, 2022, former press secretary Jen Psaki said that Biden can get work done from anywhere.

    “I will note that, while every president can work from anywhere they are because that is how presidencies are equipped, he is traveling to Delaware for the memorial service of a family member. And he will be — that is why he’s traveling there this weekend,” Psaki said.

    “The president has the capacity to make a secure call from anywhere he is, yes,” she added.

    Joe Biden is shown backing his Corvette into his Wilmington, Delaware, garage in a 2020 campaign video. (Joe Biden 2020)

    But on Monday, the White House Counsel’s Office said that Biden’s Wilmington residence is personal. The office made the statement while explaining why visitor logs don’t exist at Biden’s Wilmington residence.

    “Like every president in decades of modern history, his personal residence is personal,” the office said.

    Notably, Biden has previously held legislative meetings at the Wilmington home, such as one gathering with Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va.

    https://www.foxnews.com/politics/white-house-claimed-bidens-delaware-house-used-official-business-now-says-personal

    Liked by 1 person

  21. “Two Big Scandals Struck Brian Kemp This Week — Georgia’s governor was doing deals with globalists in Switzerland when Project Veritas uncovered CRT materials smuggled into Georgia’s schools”

    Emerald Robinson
    15 min ago

    ENTIRE ARTICLE: “Georgia Governor Brian Kemp stumbled into two scandals this week that will have Republican voters enraged in his state. The first scandal was entirely self-inflicted: Kemp could not resist an invitation to attend the World Economic Forum’s annual conference in Davos. Why would the supposedly conservative governor want to mix with the international globalists at their signature gathering in Switzerland? He went there to complain that he was not getting enough money from the federal government in Washington, apparently.

    Was this panel a sufficient reason for Kemp to attend the WEF conference? A conservative journalist named Leo Hohmann explained why Brian Kemp was really in Davos better than anyone.

    Some have suggested that Kemp might just be going to Davos to gather information on a fact-finding trip, but I’m not buying it. Kemp has always been a globalist. He has courted the Chinese Communist Party to invest in Georgia, literally making promotional videos on how wonderful it is for Georgia to partner with the Chinese communists in various business ventures. Kemp has also rolled out the red carpet for the ultra-liberal film industry, much of which has relocated from California to avoid the high taxes there and take advantage of Georgia’s relatively cheap Southern labor. And people wonder why Georgia is turning from red to purple.

    No, Brian Kemp is no principled conservative.

    The Davos meeting is for elite globalists in key positions of power in government, business, Big Tech, Big Pharma and the field of entertainment. They will huddle in mostly private meetings to exchange ideas on how to advance globalism in the coming year, presenting their proposals and plans for how to use public-private partnerships to usher in what they call the Great Reset and the Fourth Industrial Revolution — which is essentially a plan to digitize all living and non-living things on the planet so they will be more trackable and controllable.

    In other words, Brian Kemp was in Switzerland to sell out Georgia to the highest bidder. Leo Hohmann’s article resonated so much that Brian Kemp himself chose to respond to the article by sending out an email from his private account to rebut Hohmann’s charges on Monday. Here’s the email from Brian Kemp to his biggest donors and supporters.

    Needless to say, if you think Klaus Schwab and Bill Gates and the rest of the globalists invited Brian Kemp to Davos to lecture them in public about the virtues of conservative principles — well, it’s probably a good time to stop sniffing glue.

    While Kemp was being battered on social media sites for his Davos trip, a second scandal struck him on Wednesday. The investigative journalists at Project Veritas released a new video of a left-wing activist celebrating the fact that the state of Georgia had purchased educational materials containing Critical Race Theory (CRT) for kindergartens in two counties. By the way, it’s illegal to teach CRT in Georgia’s schools. How had this happened? Well, the left-wing activist explained: because Brian Kemp “is such an idiot.” The governor and his education officials “have no clue” that CRT has been included in the curriculum that was just purchased from Teaching Lab.

    Quintin Bostic, by his own admission, is making money by fooling “the ignorant parents” of Georgia into buying CRT products for their kids. Rest assured, we will be reaching out to Brian Kemp for comment on this video today.”

    Liked by 2 people

        1. Thankfully, not much wind here at all, and I’m not seeing any precip yet. Oh, gas – I meant to tell you – it was up to $3.09 at Casey’s here and in Pierce. I was able to get it in Norfolk at Casey’s for $2.89 but most of the other stations there were also at $3.09. I must have caught it just before they changed it.

          Liked by 1 person

  23. OK – listening to Fox about the Mayor of DC vetoing a really horrendous crime bill and the DC City Council overriding her veto. But, according to Leo Terrell, the bill has to be approved by Congress and wouldn’t take effect until 2025….so, indeed, the DC operations seem to be governed by Congress.

    Crime bill will: reduce maximum sentences; gets rid of nearly every mandatory minimum sentence, allows for jury trials in almost all misdemeanor matters, reduces penalties for offenses like burglaries, car jackings, and robberies, and relaxes the penalty for a felony with a gun drops from…”

    Liked by 1 person


  25. The photographer followed this Ruby-crowned Kinglet for about 15 minutes as it hopped from one branch to another in fast succession. “I think it knew I was following it because, all of a sudden, it just stopped and stared at me for all of about three seconds!”

    A smooth-coated otter carries her baby otter to and fro for its swimming lesson.

    A golden silk monkey in Yunnan China. While actually a show of aggression, it looks kind of painful.

    Bald Eagle gets a surprise

    “A Yellow Bittern was trying very hard to get into a comfortable hunting position,” said the photographer. “I got this shot when it was between two stalks of lotus flowers.”

    Liked by 1 person


  26. “This 3 month old cub and his sibling were in a tree. The other lionesses were in other trees and on the ground. He wanted to get down and walked all over the branches looking for the right spot and finally just went for it. It was probably his first time in a tree and his descent didn’t go so well. He was just fine though after landing on the ground. He got up and ran off with some other cubs.”

    “Actually this is Indian Saras Crane attacking a Bluebull from behind, the bull happened to venture close to Saras’s nest, where in, it had laid a single egg. The Saras Crane, which is tallest flying bird in the world, opened it’s huge wings and attacked the bull from behind, driving the bull away from the nest”

    “A duckling walking/waddling across a turtle covered log at the Juanita wetlands, the duckling fell off after a few turtle crossings, it was cute.”

    “The raccoon was just waking up and stretching. We have a raccoon in this tree every so often, sometimes for a night and sometimes for a month.”

    “This raccoon spends his time trying to get into houses out of curiosity and perhaps also to steal food.”

    Liked by 1 person

  27. the fib & doj made a deal with ultra maggot’s admin
    FTA
    Meanwhile, the Wall Street Journal revealed on Tuesday that the Justice Department considered having FBI agents monitor Biden’s personal attorneys as they searched his Wilmington and Rehoboth homes but decided against it, deciding Biden’s lawyers were cooperating with them.

    Biden’s legal team, after the discovery of the first tranche of documents at his D.C. think tank, talked with the DoJ about having FBI agents present while Biden’s lawyers conducted the additional searches.

    Ultimately the two sides cut a deal where only Biden’s attorneys would do the search and immediately report any findings. They did find more documents – in the garage and ‘personal library’ of the president’s Wilmington home.

    It’s marked contrast to how the Justice Department worked with Donald Trump’s legal team. After making repeated requests about classified documents reportedly in the former president’s possession, the Justice Department ultimately obtained a federal warrant for FBI agents to raid Trump’s Mar-a-Lago home. 

    Trump and his supporters have roared about the situation, calling it a double standard. Biden’s team argues they have been consistently cooperating in their case. 

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11645443/White-House-demands-Kevin-McCarthy-reveal-deals-speaker.html

    Liked by 1 person

  29. so the affordable care act PROHIBITS illegals from receiving healthcare but ultra maggot granted a waiver? sounds like he’s breaking the law!
    FTA
    The “immigration industrial complex” is pushing for more, all across the nation. Washington State just opened up its Obamacare health insurance program to the undocumented — another magnet sure to attract migrants. The Affordable Care Act expressly bars undocumented enrollees, but the Biden administration — the “immigration industrial complex’s” best friend — granted the state a waiver to include people here illegally.

    https://www.creators.com/read/betsy-mccaughey/01/23/hotel-america-needs-to-end

    Liked by 1 person

  31. “Ukrainian interior minister killed in helicopter crash next to kindergarten — At least 18 people have died and many more injured after a government helicopter crashed near a kindergarten in Kyiv”

    January 18, 2023
    editor: REMIX NEWS author: THOMAS BROOKE

    ENTIRE ARTIICLE: “At least 18 people have been killed, including three children, after a government helicopter crash-landed near a kindergarten in the Kyiv suburb of Brovary on Wednesday morning. The helicopter is believed to have been transporting the Ukrainian Interior Minister Denys Monastyrsky and his political team, all of whom have died.

    “As a result of the crash in Brovary, the leadership of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine was killed. They were in the helicopter of the State Emergency Service,” said police chief Ihor Klymenko. Oleksii Kuleba, Kyiv regional governor, revealed that dozens were injured in the aftermath of the crash. At least 29 other people have been injured, including 15 children, many of whom have been hospitalized. The deputy head of Ukraine’s presidential office, Kyrylo Tymoshenko, said the helicopter had been traveling to a war “hot spot” at the time of the crash.

    The cause of the crash has not yet been determined. According to Ukrainian President Zelensky’s former spokesperson, Iuliia Mendel, an investigation into the crash is considering possible equipment malfunction or human error by the pilot; however, sabotage is not being ruled out. Footage circulating on social media shows the chaotic scenes at the crash site with an inferno raging at a nearby building believed to be a nursery.

    Advisor to Ukraine’s Interior Ministry, Anton Gerashchenko, confirmed the department’s minister, deputy minister, and state secretary were all killed in the crash.

    Commenting on the news, Estonian Prime Minister Kaja Kallas described it as “yet another tragic reminder of the incredibly heavy price Ukraine is paying during its freedom fight against Russia.” Polish President Andrzej Duda tweeted: “It is with deep sadness that I received information about the helicopter crash in Brovary near Kyiv which left several persons killed, including senior officials of Ukraine’s Ministry of Interior. My thoughts are with the families and loved ones of the victims.”

    Austrian Foreign Minister Alexander Schallenberg said he is “deeply saddened at the lives cut short by the tragic helicopter crash near a kindergarten in Brovary” and offered his thoughts and sympathies to the victims’ families and the people of Ukraine. “Georgia grieves with you,” added Georgian President Salome Zourabichvili.”

    Liked by 1 person

  34. Liked by 1 person

  35. Liked by 1 person

  38. talking the talk, can he walk the walk?

    Like

  39. Like

  45. “Citing Racist History, Harvard Bans Using The Word ‘Harvard'”
    EDUCATION · Jan 17, 2023 · BabylonBee.com

    “CAMBRIDGE, MA — Following the courageous example of USC, which just banned the word “field” for its racist connotations, Harvard University has announced they will no longer allow students or faculty to use the word “Harvard” due to its own tragic history of racism.

    “Sadly, this very university, which shall not be named, was built on a foundation of white supremacy, misogyny, nationalism, homophobia, transphobia, Islamophobia, xenophobia, slavery, white people, men, white men, Christian white men, and all the other bad stuff,” said Sheree Ohen of the Harvard University Office for Equity, Diversity, Inclusion, and Gay Stuff. “I was also heartbroken to discover that Harvard’s campus has several areas of green grass known as ‘fields.’ It’s disgusting.”

    Ohen was then hauled before a disciplinary committee for accidentally using the word “field.”

    At publishing time, Harvard had announced they had discontinued use of the entire rest of the English language due to its history of colonialism.”

    Liked by 1 person

  47. I am adding a short daily prayer to the board. I would invite each of you, if you wish, to also add one or maybe two of your own liking. I do not want to stifle anyone but please limit yourself to one or two religious postings. here’s one I found that I liked.

    Like

Comments are closed.