The Peruvian pelican (''Pelecanus thagus'') is a member of the

pelican Pelicans (genus ''Pelecanus'') are a genus of large water birds that make up the family Pelecanidae. They are characterized by a long beak and a large throat pouch used for catching prey and draining water from the scooped-up contents before ...

family. It lives on the west coast of

South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a considerably smaller portion in the Northern Hemisphere. It can also be described as the southern Subregion#Americas, subregion o ...

, breeding in loose

colonies A colony is a territory subject to a form of foreign rule, which rules the territory and its indigenous peoples separated from the foreign rulers, the colonizer, and their '' metropole'' (or "mother country"). This separated rule was often or ...

from about 33.5 degrees south in central

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in western South America. It is the southernmost country in the world and the closest to Antarctica, stretching along a narrow strip of land between the Andes, Andes Mountains and the Paci ...

to Piura in northern

Peru Peru, officially the Republic of Peru, is a country in western South America. It is bordered in the north by Ecuador and Colombia, in the east by Brazil, in the southeast by Bolivia, in the south by Chile, and in the south and west by the Pac ...

, and occurring as a visitor in southern Chile and

Ecuador Ecuador, officially the Republic of Ecuador, is a country in northwestern South America, bordered by Colombia on the north, Peru on the east and south, and the Pacific Ocean on the west. It also includes the Galápagos Province which contain ...

. It used to be considered a subspecies of the brown pelican.

Description

These birds are dark in colour with a white stripe from the top of the bill up to the crown and down the sides of the neck. They have long tufted

feather Feathers are epidermal growths that form a distinctive outer covering, or plumage, on both avian (bird) and some non-avian dinosaurs and other archosaurs. They are the most complex integumentary structures found in vertebrates and an exa ...

s on the top of their heads. It was previously considered a

subspecies In Taxonomy (biology), biological classification, subspecies (: subspecies) is a rank below species, used for populations that live in different areas and vary in size, shape, or other physical characteristics (Morphology (biology), morpholog ...

of the brown pelican (''Pelecanus occidentalis''). The Peruvian pelican is considerably larger, ranging from about in weight, in length and with a wingspan of about . Compared to the brown pelican, it also has proportionally longer crest feathers, as well as differences in the colours of the gular pouch, beak, scapulars and greater wing coverts.

Behaviour

Breeding

The main breeding season occurs from September to March. Clutch size is usually two or three eggs. Eggs are incubated for approximately 4 to 5 weeks, with the rearing period lasting about 3 months. Breeding occurs in large coastal colonies.

Feeding

Peruvian pelicans feed on several species of

fish A fish (: fish or fishes) is an aquatic animal, aquatic, Anamniotes, anamniotic, gill-bearing vertebrate animal with swimming fish fin, fins and craniate, a hard skull, but lacking limb (anatomy), limbs with digit (anatomy), digits. Fish can ...

. Unlike the brown pelican, they never dive from a great height to catch its food, instead diving from a shallow height or feeding while swimming on the surface. On occasion they may take other food items, such as nestling of

imperial shag The imperial shag or imperial cormorant (''Leucocarbo atriceps'') is a black-and-white cormorant native to southern South America, islands of the Subantarctic, and the Antarctic Peninsula, primarily in rocky coastal regions, but locally also at ...

s, young Peruvian diving petrels, gray gulls and cannibalize unrelated chicks of their own species. They also feed on

pelagic The pelagic zone consists of the water column of the open ocean and can be further divided into regions by depth. The word ''pelagic'' is derived . The pelagic zone can be thought of as an imaginary cylinder or water column between the sur ...

species such as

anchovies An anchovy is a small, common forage fish of the family Engraulidae. Most species are found in marine waters, but several will enter brackish water, and some in South America are restricted to fresh water. More than 140 species are placed in 1 ...

. In fact, those in the northern

Humboldt Current The Humboldt Current, also called the Peru Current, is a cold, low-salinity ocean current that flows north along the western coast of South America.Montecino, Vivian, and Carina B. Lange. "The Humboldt Current System: Ecosystem components and pro ...

System feed almost exclusively on one species, the Peruvian anchoveta. The birds feed around cold-water upwellings, being found along the

Conservation

Its status was first evaluated for the

IUCN Red List The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species, also known as the IUCN Red List or Red Data Book, founded in 1964, is an inventory of the global conservation status and extinction risk of biological ...

in 2008, being listed as

Near threatened A near-threatened species is a species which has been Conservation status, categorized as "Near Threatened" (NT) by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) as that may be vulnerable to Endangered species, endangerment in the ne ...

. Its status was reassessed in 2018, and it was again listed as Near threatened, but with increasing population. One factor affecting their status may be competition with fishing industries for anchovies, a primary food source for the species.

Gallery

File:Pelecanus thagus -Pan de Azucar National Park, Atacama Region, Chile -head-8.jpg, Peruvian pelican in

Pan de Azúcar National Park Pan de Azúcar National Park is a national park of Chile. The park straddles the border between the Antofagasta Region and the Atacama Region. Its name, ''Parque Nacional Pan de Azúcar'', means "sugar loaf national park". Geography The park ...

, Chile File:Peruvian pelican in Pan de Azucar National Park in Chile September 2009.jpg, Peruvian pelican in Pan de Azúcar National Park, Chile File:Several Peruvian pelicans in Pan de Azucar National Park in Chile September 2009.jpg, Several Peruvian pelicans at the Caleta Pan de Azúcar fishing village in Pan de Azúcar National Park, Chile File:Pelecanus thagus (Peruvian Pelican - Chile-Pelikan) - Weltvogelpark Walsrode 2012-02 cropped.jpg, A Peruvian pelican takes a bath at Weltvogelpark Walsrode, Germany File:Pelecanus thagus in the Ballestas islands.jpg, Peruvian pelicans in the Ballestas Islands, Peru File:Peruvian pelican in Paracas, Peru.jpg, Peruvian pelican in Paracas, Peru File:Migración de Pelecanus Thagus.jpg, Pelecanus Thagus Flying above, Punta Sal, Peru

References

External links

Mundo Azul Species Factsheet
{{Taxonbar, from=Q845979 Peruvian pelican Birds of Peru Birds of Chile Western South American coastal birds Peruvian pelican