Common Name: Brown Pelican, California Brown Pelican
Scientific Name: Pelecanus occidentalis, Pelecanus occidentalis californicus
Subspecies: Five subspecies of the brown pelican are recognized. At least some of these subspecies are genetically distinct despite similar phenotypes.
Description: The brown pelican is the smallest of the eight extant pelican species, but is often one of the larger seabirds in their range nonetheless. The nonbreeding adult has a white head and neck, and the pre-breeding adult has a creamy yellow head. The pink skin around the eyes becomes dull and gray in the non-breeding season. It lacks any red hue, and the pouch is strongly olivaceous ochre tinged and the legs are olivaceous gray to blackish-gray. It has pale blue to yellowish white irides which become brown during the breeding season. During courtship, the bill becomes pinkish red to pale orange, redder at the tip, and the pouch is blackish. Later in the breeding season the bill becomes pale ash-gray over most of the upper jaw and the basal third of the mandible. The juvenile is similar, but is grayish-brown overall and has paler underparts. The head, neck, and thighs are dusky-brown, and the abdomen is dull white. The plumage of the male is similar to a fully adult female, although the male’s head feathers are rather rigid. The tail and flight feathers are browner than those of the adult. It has short, brown upperwing coverts, which are often darker on greater coverts, and dull brownish-gray underwing coverts with a whitish band at the center.
Pelicans and their relatives—cormorants, gannets, and boobies—are the only birds with totipalmate feet. This means that webbing connects all four of their toes, even the back toe. As you can see below, they also have claws at the end of each toe. The wood duck is the only North American member of the “perching duck” tribe, although some authorities now include the species with dabbling ducks. Like other members of the perching group, wood ducks have long toes with claws, which gives them the ability to perch in trees.
Distribution: While usually restricted to coastal regions, brown pelicans occasionally wander inland, and there are records of vagrant individuals across much of the interior of North America. The species also occasionally wanders along the coasts of the Americas outside its normal range, with vagrants reported as far north as Southeast Alaska and Newfoundland, as far south as central Chile.
Habitat: The brown pelican mainly feeds on fish, but occasionally eats amphibians, crustaceans, and the eggs and nestlings of birds. It nests in colonies in secluded areas, often on islands, vegetated land among sand dunes, thickets of shrubs and trees, and mangroves.
I had an opportunity to see the subspecies Brown Pelican (Pelecanus occidentalis murphyi) in Costa Rica from a trip several years ago. You can see subtle color differences between the subspecies.
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