Australia’s largest flying Bird – The Pelican, is a familiar sight along the Australian coast. It is often seen roosting on sandbanks, rocky breakwaters, swimming in lagoons, bays and rivers, and congregating in large numbers around fishing villages or where fishermen clean their catch. They are large waterbirds with a long pink bill for catching fish and draining the scooped up contents before swallowing.

Appearance

Pelicans species are mainly white except for the brown and Peruvian pelicans. The Australian Pelican is the largest of all eight pelican species. However, it weighs just 7kg because it has the lightest bones of any bird in the world, with air sacs in the bones and a network of air sacs under its skin. Their bill, the largest of all the Pelican species, is 40-50cm long, and they are voracious eaters, consuming up to 9kg of food per day eating fish, shrimps and yabbies.

With a wingspan of 2.3 – 2.6, they can soar to a height of 3000m and fly 1,000 in 24 hours. They are found throughout Australia, Papua New Guinea and western Indonesia, with occasional reports in New Zealand and various western Pacific islands.

Behaviour

Pelicans plunge their bills into the water to catch their prey, using it as a net to scoop up prey.  While they may feed alone, they more often work together to drive fish into a concentrated mass before herding the fish into shallow water or ever-decreasing circles. On a trip to Lake Menindee one year, we went out to shoot a sunset at the local weir. We found a flock of pelicans waiting at the wall for dinner on arrival. As fish swept over the top of the weir, they would scoop them up at the bottom. Pelican version of automatic food dispenser 🙂

During food shortages, they have been known to capture and eat seagulls or ducklings, holding them under the water until they drown and then eating them head first. They will also rob other birds of their prey and take handouts from humans.

Mythology

Pelicans also feature in many myths and Christian iconology, including the ‘Book of Beasts”, a Christian compendium of real and imaginary beasts, with the Pelican symbolising selflessness and sacrifice. Colin Theile wrote the beloved Australian book ‘Storm Boy’, the story of a young boy living a lonely life with his reclusive father on the beach in Coorong, an isolated wetland region in South Australia. The boy finds and raises three orphaned Pelican chicks forming a close bond with them. In 1976 the book was adapted into a film, with a sequel in 2019. Mr Percival, the Pelican, died in Adelaide Zoo in 2009, aged 33 years old.

Breeding Site

All Australian pelicans mainly derive from just two breeding sites. On islands in the north of the Coorong, S.A. – Storm Boy country – the rookery produces almost all of Australia’s pelican chicks. The other is on various waterways of the Lake Eyre basin during rare flooding events. This year there was also a large breeding colony on Lake Brewster NSW, a remote inland lake.

In 1990, around 100,000 pelicans (perhaps a third of all the pelicans in Australia) on Lake Eyre produced 80,000 to 90,000 chicks, which later dispersed throughout the continent, including Canberra’s lakes.

About Regional

Breeding

Pelicans are gregarious birds and are monogamous for a single season, breeding in large colonies. While up to four chalky white eggs are laid, the usual number is two. Incubation is for 32 to 35 days. After hatching, the larger chick is fed more, and the smaller one eventually dies of starvation or siblicide by the other chick. The young Pelican can fly at around three months of age but still depend on its parents for food.

Landing and Take Off

Pelicans can remain in the air for 24 hours. However, they cannot sustain flapping flights over long periods. They use thermal currents to swoop and soar and cover great distances to overcome this. The landing appears similar to an amphibious aeroplane landing on a water runway, gliding to a stop using its webbed feet as brakes. Then, they skim across the water on takeoff, building up speed, flapping wings, and lifting into the air.

Pelican Feeding

Where can you see Pelicans being fed? Every day at midday on the foreshore by the pier at San Remo, Vic. The Pelican feeding at The Entrance in NSW has been temporarily halted due to Covid. You can see them fed at Ian Dipple Lagoon on the Gold Coast at 1.30 pm daily. The pelican feeding has been permanently cancelled at Kingscote, Kangaroo Island, SA.