Pelican

The patch of bare skin around the eyes gives rise to our Australian Pelican having another common name, the Spectacled Pelican.

 

Our Pelicans are widespread, common, nomadic and dispersive. They can be found on large and small water bodies, fresh or saline. Around the coastline, they are generally fairly sedentary. Inland birds are much more nomadic as they are influenced by rainfall patterns.

 

Although their diet consists mostly of fish - which sometimes they work cooperatively in small groups to round up - they are not beyond taking the eggs or nestlings of other birds.

 

Pelicans usually nest on offshore islands where they line a simple scrape in the ground with some vegetation in which to lay their eggs.

 

Capable of flying large distances by utilising thermals in the atmosphere, Pelicans often fly in vee formations and can stay aloft for hours.

 

When Lake Eyre filled in 1989/90, the number of Pelicans that gathered to take advantage of the conditions, was estimated to be around 100,000 birds, about 90% of the total population of Australia’s Pelicans. The absence of the bird in coastal regions at the time was especially notable.

 

Fossil records indicate that the Pelican has existed in Australia for at least 30-40 million years.