Great White Pelican {Pelecanus onocrotalus}

A huge, mostly white bird with short legs and a massive, broad and very long bill. The enormous Great white Pelican is a waterbird, largely white, with contrasting black flight feathers on the wings.

In the breeding season, the Great White Pelican takes on a pinkish flush and there is usually a yellow wash on the breast. There is an area of bare, pink skin around the eye and the enormous bill and pouch skin are yellow.

The legs and feet are pink or yellowish and the feet are fully webbed. Juvenile birds are duller than adults and are greyish-brown with brown flight feathers on the wings.

Quick Facts

Name: Pelecanus onocrotalus

Habitat: Found on large inland waters, and on the coast.

Distribution: Widespread in South Africa and Africa except in the equatorial lowland forests in the West and in the very arid areas of eastern Somalia.

Size: 138 - 180 cm

Diet: Fish and some crustaceans

Socialisation: Great White Pelicans are gregarious birds and large flocks often fish togther encircling and trapping shoals of fish in shallow water where all the birds are easily able to scoop up fish in the skin pouch below the bill. They are excellent swimmers and also good fliers.

Reproduction: White Pelicans usually nest in colonies situated on an island, or remote parts of a large pan. The nest is a stick structure placed on the ground.