#1265 · 🐦 birds

Brown Pelican

🇳🇱 Bruine Pelikaan ·Pelecanus occidentalis

LCleast concern 🐦 Birds 📍 outside Europe

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

1. © BJ Stacey · CC BY-NC 4.0
2. © Isaac Lord · CC BY-NC 4.0
3. © Ty Smith · CC BY-NC 4.0
4. © BJ Stacey · CC BY-NC 4.0
5. © Jay Pruett · CC BY 4.0
6. © Henrik Kibak · CC BY 4.0
7. © Christy King · CC BY-NC-SA 4.0
8. © JeffreyGammon · CC BY-NC 4.0
9. © Pedro Genaro Rodriguez · CC BY-NC 4.0

what is it?

The brown pelican ( Pelecanus occidentalis ) is a North American bird of the pelican family, Pelecanidae. It is one of three pelican species found in the Americas and one of only two that feeds by diving in water. It is found on the Atlantic Coast from Nova Scotia to the mouth of the Amazon River, and along the Pacific Coast from British Columbia to northern Chile, including the Galapagos Islands. The nominate subspecies in its breeding plumage...

base stats

NL sightings 0iNaturalist, research grade
worldwide 150,475iNaturalist observations
weight 3.7 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.
150,475 observations worldwide on iNaturalist.
Weighs up to about 3.7 kg.
Scientifically named in 1766 (260 years ago).