Pelecanus occidentalis

• Overview
• Interesting Facts
• Common Names
• Description
• Biology
• Taxonomy
• Similar Species
• More Info
• Further Reading
• Notes

Overview

Endangered

Interesting Facts

Common Names

Click on the language to view common names.

Description

Family Pelecanidae

Large birds with enormous, pouched bills and long wings.

Physical Description

Habitat

Coastal shores .

Vegetation: freshwater marshes, coastal waters • Foraging Strata: Water • Center of Abundance: Lower tropical: lowlands, lower than 500 m.; tropics. • Sensitivity to Disturbancet: High

Ecology: List of Habitats : 9.1 Marine Neritic - Pelagic 10.1 Marine Oceanic - Epipelagic (0-200m)

Biology

Diet

Various species of fish and crustaceans.

Reproduction

Brown Pelicans nest in large colonies in trees , bushes, or even on the ground .

• Clutch Size: 3
• Length of Incubation : 28-30 days
• Days to Fledge : 71-88
• Number of Broods: 1

Migration

Migratory

Taxonomy

Notes

Name Status: Accepted Name . Latest taxonomic scrutiny: 17-Oct-2001.

Similar Species

American White Pelican, Northern Gannet

Members of the genus Pelecanus

There are approximately 45 species in this genus:

P. aethiopicus · P. africanus · P. aquilus · P. cadimurkis · P. capensis · P. cauleyi · P. conspicilatus · P. conspicillatus (Australasian Pelican) · P. conspicillatus conspicillatus · P. conspicillatus novaezealandiae · P. crispus (Dalamatian Pelican) · P. erythrorhynchos (American White Pelecan) · P. erythrorhynchus · P. erythrorynchos · P. fuscus · P. gracilis · P. grandiceps · P. intermedius · P. javanicus · P. leucogaster · P. novaezealandiae (New Zealand Pelican) · P. occidentalis (Brown Pelican) · P. occidentalis californicus (California Brown Pelican) · P. occidentalis carolinensis (Eastern Brown Pelican) · P. occidentalis murphyi · P. occidentalis muryphi · P. occidentalis occidentalis (Brown Pelican) · P. occidentalis ssp · P. occidentalis thagus (Brown Pelican) · P. occidentalis urinator (Galapagos Brown Pelican) · P. odessanus · P. onocrotalis · P. onocrotalus (Eastern White Pelican) · P. onocrotalus onocrotalus · P. onocrotalus roseus · P. philippensis (Spot-Billed Pelican) · P. philippensis crispus · P. philippensis philippensis (Spot-Billed Pelican) · P. roseus (Rosy Pelican) · P. rufescens (Pink-Backed Pelican) · P. schreiberi · P. sharpei · P. sp · P. thagus (Chilean Brown Pelican) · P. tirarensis

More Info

• Search for Pictures: images.google.com
• Search for Scholarly Articles: Google Scholar
• Search using Scientific Name and Vernacular Names: All the Web | AltaVista Canada | AltaVista | Excite | Google | HotBot | Lycos
• Search using Specialized Databases: GenBank | Medline | Scirus | CISTI/CAL | Agricola Periodicals | Agricola Books

Further Reading

• A bibliography of birds: with special reference to anatomy, behavior, biochemistry --. by Reuben Myron Strong Chicago: Field Museum of Natural History, 1959 UND url p. 133, p. 135.
• A biological survey of the waters of Woods Hole and vicinity / By Francis B. Sumner, Raymond C. Osburn, and Leon J. Cole. Washington: Govt. Print. Off., 1913 ENG url p. 778, p. 852.
• A checklist of the vertebrate animals of Kansas / George D. Potts, Joseph T. Collins. [Lawrence, Kan.]: Museum of Natural History, University of Kansas, 1991. ENG url p. 6.
• A geographic classification of Neotropical mammals. [Chicago]Chicago Natural History Museum, 1958. ENG url p. 638.
• A history of the birds of Colorado, by William Lutley Sclater London, Witherby and co., 1912. ENG url p. 30.
• Alsop, Fred J. III. Birds of North America - Eastern Region. First American Edition. Smithsonian Handbooks. DK Publishing, Inc. 2001.
• Annals of the Carnegie Museum. [Pittsburgh]: Published by authority of the Board of Trustees of the Carnegie Institute, 1901- ENG url p. 132, p. 158, p. 173, p. 390, p. 443, p. 481, p. 571, p. 602.
• Annual report of the Board of Regents of the Smithsonian Institution. Washington: Smithsonian Institution, -1965. ENG url p. 100, p. 103, p. 120, p. 126, p. 145, p. 147, p. 148, p. 65, p. 91, p. 96.
• BirdLife International 2006. Threatened Birds of the World 2006. Downloaded from http://www.birdlife.org on 04/05/2006.
• Birds in Kansas / Max C. Thompson and Charles Ely. Lawrence, Kan.: University of Kansas, Museum of Natural History: c1989- ENG url p. 26.
• Birds of America; editor-in-chief, T. Gilbert Pearson; consulting editor, John Burroughs; artists, R.I. Brasher, R. Bruce Horsfall [and] Henry Thurston. New York, The University Society, 1923. ENG url p. 104.
• Birds of California; an introduction to more than three hundred common birds of the state and adjacent islands, with a supplementary list of rare migrants, accidental visitants, and hypothetical subspecies, by Irene Grosvenor Wheelock with ten fullpag Chicago, A.C. McClurg and Co., 1912. ENG url p. 55.
• Birds of eastern Canada, by P. A. Taverner. Ottawa, J. de L. Tachprinter, 1919. ENG url p. 62.
• Brigham Young University science bulletin. Provo, Utah: Brigham Young University, [1955-1976] ENG url p. 17.
• Bulletin - United States National Museum. Washington: Smithsonian Institution Press, [etc.];1877-1971. ENG url p. 17, p. 294, p. 301, p. 413.
• Bulletin / Peabody Museum of Natural History. New Haven: The Museum, ENG url p. 70.
• Bulletin of the British Museum (Natural History). London: BM(NH) ENG url p. 206, p. 58.
• Bulletin of the Museum of Comparative Zoology at Harvard College. Cambridge, Mass.: The Museum, ENG url p. 361, p. 39, p. 396, p. 414, p. 96.
• Catalogue of birds of the Americas and the adjacent islands in Field Museum of Natural History. Charles E. Hellmayr, Boardman Conover. Chicago: Field Museum of Natural History, 1948. ENG url p. 115, p. 117, p. 119.
• Check-list of North American birds / prepared by a committee of the American ornithologists' union. Lancaster, Pa.: The Union, 1931. ENG url p. 19, p. 485.
• Color key to North American birds, by Frank M. Chapman with upward of 800 drawings by Chester A. Reed, B. S. New York, Doubleday, Page and company, 1903. ENG url p. 73.
• Ehrlich, P., Dobkin, D., and Wheye, D. (1988). The Birders Handbook: A Field Guide to the Natural History of North American Birds. New York: Simon and Schuster Inc. (info on clutch size, length of incubation, days to fledge and number of broods.)
• FWS/0BS. [Washington]Fish and Wildlife Service, U.S. Dept. of the Interior. ENG url p. 139, p. 157, p. 217, p. 24, p. 442, p. 6, p. 94.
• Field Museum of Natural History bulletin. Chicago, Field Museum of Natural History, [1930]-c1990. ENG url p. 3.
• Fishery bulletin / U.S. Dept. of Commerce, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, National Marine Fisheries Service. Washington, D.C.: The Service: ENG url p. 275, p. 279, p. 280.
• Fishery bulletin of the Fish and Wildlife Service. Washington, The Service, U.S. Govt Print. Off. ENG url p. 346, p. 529.
• General function of the gall bladder from the evolutionary standpoint, by Frank W. Gorham and Andrew Conway Ivy. Chicago, 1938. ENG url p. 182.
• Great Basin naturalist memoirs. [Provo, Utah]Brigham Young University, 1976-1992. ENG url p. 148, p. 37.
• Handbook of birds of the western United States, including the great plains, great basin, Pacific slope, and lower Rio Grande valley, by Florence Merriam Bailey, with thirty-three full-page plates by Louis Agassiz Fuertes, and over six hundred cuts in the Boston, Houghton, Mifflin and company, 1904. ENG url p. 70.
• Journal of shellfish research. [S.l.: National Shellfisheries Association, 1981- url p. 1015, p. 226, p. 359, p. 593, p. 930.
• Journal of the Washington Academy of Sciences. Washington [etc., Washington Academy of Sciences] ENG url p. 607.
• Key to North American birds. Containing a concise account of every species of living and fossil bird at present known from the continent north of the Mexican and United States boundary, inclusive of Greenland and lower California By Elliot Coues. Boston, D. Estes and Company, 1903. ENG url p. 1152.
• Life histories of North American petrels and pelicans and their allies; order Tubinares and order Steganopodes, by Arthur Cleveland Bent. Washington, Govt. print. off., 1922. ENG url p. 294, p. 301.
• Memoirs of the Nuttall Ornithological Club. Cambridge, Mass.: The Club, 1886- ENG url p. 117, p. 48.
• Memoirs of the San Diego Society of Natural History. San Diego, Calif.: The Society, 1931- ENG url p. 246.
• Michigan bird life: a list of all the bird species known to occur in the State together with an outline of their classification and an account of the life history of each species, with special reference to its relation t by Walter Bradford Barrows. Lansing: Michigan Agricultural College, 1912. ENG url p. 69.
• Miscellaneous publication - University of Kansas, Museum of Natural History. Lawrence, University of Kansas, 1946-1996. ENG url p. 8.
• Mollusks of the tropical eastern Pacific: particularly from the southern half of the Panamic-Pacific faunal province (Panama to Peru); Panamic-Pacific Pelecypoda / by Axel A. Olsson. Ithaca, N.Y.: Paleontological Research Institution, 1961. ENG url p. 37.
• Naturalist's guide to the Americas, prepared by the Committee on the Preservation of Natural Conditions of the Ecological Society of America, with assistance from numerous organizations and individuals, assembled and edited by chairman, Baltimore, Williams and Wilkins, 1926. ENG url p. 751.
• Occasional papers of the California Academy of Sciences. San Francisco: California Academy of Sciences, ENG url p. 292, p. 30, p. 36.
• Oceanus. [Woods Hole, Mass., Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution] ENG url p. 62, p. 68.
• Our living resources: a report to the nation on the distribution, abundance, and health of U.S. plants, animals, and ecosystems / [edited by], Edward T. LaRoe [et al.]. Washington, DC: U.S. Dept. of the Interior, National Biological Service, 1995. ENG url p. 43, p. 514.
• Point Lobos Reseerve; State Park, California. Interpretation of a primitive landscape. Sacramento, [State Print. Off., 1954] ENG url p. 95.
• Postilla. New Haven, Peabody Museum of Natural History, 1950-2004. ENG url p. 10.
• Proceedings of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia. [Philadelphia, Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia] ENG url p. 248, p. 373.
• Proceedings of the California Academy of Sciences, 4th series. San Francisco, California Academy of Sciences. ENG url p. 765.
• Proceedings of the United States National Museum. Washington: Smithsonian Institution Press, [etc.] ENG url p. 10, p. 16, p. 232, p. 30, p. 614, p. 9.
• Report on the progress and condition of the U.S. National Museum for the year ending June 30 / Smithsonian Institution, United States National Museum. Washington: G.P.O., 1907-1951. ENG url p. 140.
• Robbins, C.S., Bruun, B., Zim, H.S., (1966). Birds of North America. New York: Western Publishing Company, Inc. (Length and wingspan info.)
• Scientific survey of Porto Rico and the Virgin Islands / New York Academy of Sciences. New York, N.Y.: The Academy, 1919- url p. 211, p. 280, p. 590.
• Smithsonian miscellaneous collections. Washington: Smithsonian Institution, 1862-1968. ENG url p. 13, p. 278, p. 4, p. 469, p. 477, p. 51, p. 526.
• Social feeding behavior of birds. [Chicago]Chicago Natural History Museum, 1954. ENG url p. 34.
• Special scientific report. Seattle, National Marine Fisheries Service; for sale by the Supt. of Docs., U.S. Govt. Print. Off., 1949-1971. ENG url p. 106.
• The Great Basin naturalist. Provo, Utah, M.L. Bean Life Science Museum, Brigham Young University. ENG url p. 764.
• The biology of marine animals. New York, Interscience Publishers[1960] ENG url p. 699.
• The bird book: illustrating in natural colors more than seven hundred North American birds; also several hundred photographs of their nests and eggs / by Chester A. Reed. Garden City, New York, Doubleday, Page and company, 1915. ENG url p. 85.
• The birds of Connecticut, by John Hall Sage and Louis Bennett Bishop, assisted by Walter Parks Bliss. Hartford, Printed for the State Geological and Natural History Survey, 1913. ENG url p. 194, p. 28, p. 366.
• The birds of El Salvador, by Donald R. Dickey and A. J. Van Rossem. Chicago: Field Museum of Natural History, 1938. ENG url p. 606.
• The birds of Illinois and Wisconsin. Chicago, 1909. ENG url p. 313, p. 313, p. 52, p. 52, p. 759, p. 759.
• The birds of Wyoming / By Wilbur C. Knight. Laramie, Wyo.: Wyoming Experiment Station, 1902. ENG url p. 42.
• The birds of Wyoming, with an explanation of recent changes in their distribution; economic aspect also considered. By B. H. Grave and Ernest P. Walker. [Laramie]University of Wyoming, 1913. ENG url p. 26.
• The birds of the Leeward islands, Caribbean sea, by Charles B. Cory Chicago, 1909. ENG url p. 209, p. 215, p. 218, p. 220, p. 223, p. 229, p. 235.
• The ecology of Tijuana Estuary, California: a national estuarine research reserve / by Joy B. Zedler, Christopher S. Nordby and Barbara E. Kus. [Washington, D.C.: NOAA Office of Coastal Resource Management, Sanctuaries and Reserves Division], 1992. ENG url p. 68.
• Threatened wildlife of the United States. Washington, Bureau of Sport Fisheries and Wildlife [for sale by the Supt. of Docs., U.S. Govt. Print. Off.]1973. ENG url p. 289.
• Transactions of the San Diego Society of Natural History. [San Diego]: The Society, 1905- ENG url p. 167, p. 178, p. 19, p. 288, p. 323, p. 412.
• Tulane studies in zoology. New Orleans, Tulane University. ENG url p. 98.
• University of Kansas publications, Museum of Natural History. Lawrence, University of Kansas. ENG url p. 311, p. 318, p. 651.
• Year book - Carnegie Institution of Washington. [Washington, Carnegie Institution of Washington] ENG url p. 173, p. 187, p. 195, p. 199.
• Zoogeography. A symposium presented on August 26-27, 1957 [under the prime auspices of the Pacific Section of the Society of Systematic Zoology] at the Stanford University joint meeting of the American Institute of Washington, 1958. ENG url p. 502, p. 90.

Notes

Contributors

• BirdLife International 2006. In IUCN 2008. 2008 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. IUCNRedList.org. Downloaded July 18, 2008.
• Bisby, F.A., Y.R. Roskov, M.A. Ruggiero, T.M. Orrell, L.E. Paglinawan, P.W. Brewer, N. Bailly, J. van Hertum, eds (2007). Species 2000 and ITIS Catalogue of Life: 2007 Annual Checklist. Species 2000: Reading, U.K.
• Global Biodiversity Information Facility. Accessed December 09, 2007. http://www.gbif.org Mediated distribution data from 14 providers.
• Peterson, Alan P. Zoological Nomenclature Resource. Accessed June 19, 2009.

Data Sources

Accessed through GBIF Data Portal December 09, 2007:

• Avian Knowledge Network, eBird
• Bernice Pauahi Bishop Museum, Bishop Museum Natural History Specimen Data
• Canadian Biodiversity Information Facility, Provincial Museum of Alberta, Edmonton, AB, Canada. Birds
• Canadian Biodiversity Information Facility, Royal British Columbia Museum
• Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History, Santa Barbara Musem of Natural History
• UNIBIO, IBUNAM, CNAV/Coleccion Nacional de Aves
• University of Michigan Museum of Zoology
• , Bird specimens

Identifiers

• Biodiversity Heritage Library NamebankID: 3851846
• Catalogue of Life Accepted Name Code: ITS-174689
• Global Biodiversity Information Facility Taxonkey: 14389895
• Integrated Taxonomic Information System (ITIS) Taxonomic Serial Number (TSN): 174685
• IUCN ID: 49645
• Natural Heritage Network Species Identifier: ABNFC01020
• U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Species Identifier: B02L
• Zipcode Zoo Species Identifier: 152531

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