Brown pelican   natures pics🦩

Photo: Alan D. Wilson, www.naturespicsonline.com (ori… · CC BY-SA 3.0

SpeciesPelecaniformesPelecanidae
Birds

🦩Brown pelican

Pelecanus occidentalis Linnaeus, 1766

The brown pelican is a bird of the pelican family, Pelecanidae, one of three species found in the Americas and one of two that feed by diving into water. It is found on the Atlantic Coast from New Jersey to the mouth of the Amazon River, and along the Pacific Coast from British Columbia to Peru, including the Galapagos Islands. The nominate subspecies in its breeding plumage has a white head with a yellowish wash on the crown. The nape and neck are dark maroon–brown. The upper sides of the neck have white lines along the base of the gular pouch, and the lower fore neck has a pale yellowish patch. The male and female are similar, but the female is slightly smaller. The nonbreeding adult has a white head and neck. The pink skin around the eyes becomes dull and gray in the nonbreeding season. It lacks any red hue, and the pouch is strongly olivaceous ochre-tinged and the legs are olivaceous gray to blackish-gray.

Text: Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0.

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Photos
1
Measurements
13
vs you
≈ 1/18th of your weight
Conservation status
LCLeast concern

IUCN Red List assessment, 2018.

Population trendIncreasing
Key measurements
Body mass
3.43 kg
Body length
1.14 m
Shoulder height
not recorded
Top speed
not recorded
Bite force
not recorded
Maximum lifespan
43 years
All measurements ↓
Facts and figures

Everything we know about the Brown pelican

Typical adult figures. Where a value is an estimate rather than a measurement, it says so.

Body mass
3.43 kgrecord 3.2 kg · SeaLifeBase
AVONET
Other figures ↓

Record: largest individual on record

Source: AVONET · v1.1 (Tobias et al. 2022) · CC BY 4.0

By sex

  • Male3.7 kgWikidataQ208714
  • Female3.17 kgWikidataQ208714

Figures vary

  • 3.12 kgAnAgeAnAge build 15, 2023-07-03 (HAGR)data quality: acceptable
Body length
1.14 mmaximum recorded, total length
SeaLifeBase
Details ↓

Source: SeaLifeBase · v25.04 · CC BY-NC 4.0

Tail length
0.13 m
AVONET
Details ↓

Source: AVONET · v1.1 (Tobias et al. 2022) · CC BY 4.0

Wing length
0.49 m
AVONET
Details ↓

Source: AVONET · v1.1 (Tobias et al. 2022) · CC BY 4.0

Beak length
0.32 m
AVONET
Details ↓

Source: AVONET · v1.1 (Tobias et al. 2022) · CC BY 4.0

Tarsus length
0.07 m
AVONET
Details ↓

Source: AVONET · v1.1 (Tobias et al. 2022) · CC BY 4.0

Maximum lifespan
43 years
AnAge
Details ↓

data quality: acceptable

Source: AnAge · AnAge build 15, 2023-07-03 (HAGR) · CC BY 3.0

Gestation
29 days
AnAge
Details ↓

data quality: acceptable

Source: AnAge · AnAge build 15, 2023-07-03 (HAGR) · CC BY 3.0

Litter size
about 3
AnAge
Details ↓

data quality: acceptable

Source: AnAge · AnAge build 15, 2023-07-03 (HAGR) · CC BY 3.0

Trophic level
Carnivore
AVONET
Details ↓

Source: AVONET · v1.1 (Tobias et al. 2022) · CC BY 4.0

Habitat
Marine
AVONET
Details ↓

Source: AVONET · v1.1 (Tobias et al. 2022) · CC BY 4.0

Lifestyle
Aerial
AVONET
Details ↓

Source: AVONET · v1.1 (Tobias et al. 2022) · CC BY 4.0

Volume l
3.4 Laverage
Details ↓

Body mass at ~1.0 kg/L, the density of vertebrate tissue.

average = a mean across sexes or species in a group.

Not recorded for Brown pelican yet: shoulder height, top speed, bite force.

Where it sits

Family tree

  1. kingdomAnimalia
  2. ›phylumChordata
  3. ›classAves
  4. ›orderPelecaniformes
  5. ›familyPelecanidae
  6. ›genusPelecanus
  7. ›speciesPelecanus occidentalis
Full lineage
  1. orderSauria
  2. classBirds · Aves
  3. familyPelecanidae
  4. genusPelecanus
All 11 branches ↓
  1. kingdomMetazoa
  2. phylumChordata
  3. subphylumCraniata
  4. subphylumVertebrata
  5. superclassGnathostomata
  6. superclassSarcopterygii
  7. superclassTetrapoda
  8. orderSauria
  9. classBirds · Aves
  10. familyPelecanidae
  11. genusPelecanus
More

More about the Brown pelican

In other languages
pelicà bru (ca), pelikán hnědý (cs), Brun Pelikan (da), Braunpelikan (de), Pelecanus occidentalis (es), ruskopelikaani (fi) … and 27 more languages
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