#1281 · 🐦 birds

American White Pelican

🇳🇱 Witte Pelikaan ·Pelecanus erythrorhynchos

LCleast concern 🐦 Birds 📍 outside Europe

10 photos from iNaturalist (Creative Commons) · credits & licences

1. © Christian Nunes · CC BY-NC 4.0
2. © Steven Mlodinow · CC BY-NC 4.0
3. © mannac · CC BY-NC 4.0
4. © Andrew Reding · CC BY-NC-ND 4.0
5. © Frank Schulenburg · CC BY-SA 4.0
6. © Greg Lasley · CC BY-NC 4.0
7. © Janet Hill · CC BY-NC-SA 4.0
8. © Jose Maria Arguijo Nuñez · CC BY-NC 4.0
9. © nancylightfoot · CC BY-NC 4.0
10. © Evan C · CC BY-NC-ND 4.0

what is it?

The American white pelican ( Pelecanus erythrorhynchos ) is a large aquatic soaring bird from the order Pelecaniformes. It breeds in interior North America, moving south and to the coasts, as far as Central America and South America, in winter.

base stats

NL sightings 0iNaturalist, research grade
worldwide 88,321iNaturalist observations
weight 6.9 kgadult, up to
threat LCleast concern

Bars compare against all animals on log scales: up to 300,000 Dutch and 600,000 worldwide sightings (the most-seen species), 150 t (blue whale), 30 m and 400 years (Greenland shark).

fun facts

No confirmed wild sightings in the Netherlands on iNaturalist: you'd have to travel for this one.
88,321 observations worldwide on iNaturalist.
Weighs up to about 6.9 kg.
Scientifically named by Johann Friedrich Gmelin in 1789 (237 years ago).