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WetlandScrapeHuge · 5.5 kg
What the Australian Pelican sounds like
ID tip
The Australian pelican is medium-sized by pelican standards, with a wingspan of 2.3 to 2.6 m (7.5 to 8.5 ft). Weight can range from 4 to 13 kg (8.8 to 28.7 lb), although most of these pelicans weigh between 4.54 and 7.7 kg (10.0 and 17.0 lb). The average weight of four unsexed Australian pelicans was 5.5 kg (12 lb), making this the second heaviest Australian flying bird species on average, after the brolga, although the male of the more sexually dimorphic Australian bustard weighs a bit more at average and maximum weights (both birds are, of course, much smaller than the cassowary and emu).
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
When to see the Australian Pelican
One bar for each month, and every month is filled: this bird is recorded here in all twelve. The wide bar is October, the month with the most records.
Where to see the Australian Pelican
The map shades 5 countries with regular records, and 4 more in a lighter tone where the bird turns up only as a stray. Everything unshaded has no records. Countries are listed below the map.
Recorded as a rare visitor in Belgium, New Zealand, Singapore, Solomon Islands.
About the Australian Pelican
The Australian pelican is a large waterbird in the family Pelecanidae, widespread on the inland and coastal waters of Australia and New Guinea, also in Fiji, parts of Indonesia and as a vagrant in New Zealand. It is a predominantly white bird with black wings and a pink bill. It has been recorded as having the longest bill of any living bird. It mainly eats fish, but will also consume birds and scavenge for scraps if the opportunity arises.
Text adapted from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Easily confused with
Great White PelicanPelecanus onocrotalusThe great white pelican is a huge bird—only the Dalmatian pelican is, on average, larger among pelicans.
Spot-billed PelicanPelecanus philippensisThe spot-billed pelican is a rather large water bird, often the largest or one of the largest native birds in the southern stretches of its range, albeit it is fairly small for a pelican.
Peruvian PelicanPelecanus thagusThese 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.
Side by side: Australian Pelican vs Brown Pelican · American White Pelican vs Australian Pelican · Australian Pelican vs Great White Pelican · Australian Pelican vs Spot-billed Pelican · Australian Pelican vs Peruvian Pelican
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