| American White Pelican | ||||||||||||||
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| Pelecanus erythrorhynchos |
The American White Pelican (Pelecanus erythrorhynchos †) is a very large (50"-70") white bird with black wing tips and an enormous orange bill.
Unlike the Brown Pelican, the American White Pelican does not dive for its food. Instead it practice cooperative fishing[?]. It eats more than 4 pounds of fish a day, mostly carp, chub, shiners[?], perch, catfish, and jackfish[?].
Nests in colonies of several hundred pairs on islands in remote brackish and freshwater lakes of inland North America.
Winters in central California and along the Pacific coast of Guatemala; also along the shores of the Gulf of Mexico.
Shooting by poachers[?] is the largest known cause of mortality.
Protected by the Migratory Bird Treaty[?] of 1972.
† Pelecanus: Latin for pelican; erythrorhynchos: From Greek erythros meaning red, and rhynchos meaning beak.