#1186 · 🐦 birds

Pink-backed Pelican

🇳🇱 Kleine Pelikaan ·Pelecanus rufescens

LCleast concern 🐦 Birds 📍 in Europe, not in NL

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

1. © Kevin Metcalf · CC BY-NC 4.0
2. © Wayne and Pam Osborn · CC BY-NC 4.0
3. © Alex R · CC BY-NC 4.0
4. © Gigi Laidler · CC BY-NC 4.0
5. © serdar · CC BY-NC 4.0
6. © Chriest · CC BY-NC-SA 4.0
7. © Wavell Fogleman · CC BY-NC 4.0
8. © Gigi Laidler · CC BY-NC 4.0
9. © twity11_gabrielarossi · CC BY-NC 4.0

what is it?

The pink-backed pelican ( Pelecanus rufescens ) is a bird of the pelican family. It is a resident breeder in the swamps and shallow lakes of Africa, southern Arabia, southern India and is apparently extirpated in Madagascar.

base stats

NL sightings 0iNaturalist, research grade
worldwide 2,556iNaturalist observations
weight 6 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.
2,556 observations worldwide on iNaturalist.
Weighs up to about 6 kg.
Scientifically named by Johann Friedrich Gmelin in 1789 (237 years ago).