American White Pelican

The American White Pelican is among the largest flying birds in North America, an imposing white bird with an immense bill that is impossible to mistake for anything else. Unlike its coastal cousin the Brown Pelican, it forages while swimming rather than diving from the air.

Appearance

Adults are almost entirely white with black flight feathers visible only in flight, and a massive orange-yellow bill and throat pouch. During the breeding season, adults develop a flattened, horn-like plate on the upper bill that is shed after eggs are laid.

Key field marks

• Enormous size with a huge orange-yellow bill and pouch
• Overall white body plumage with black flight feathers visible only in flight
• Breeding adults show a distinctive horny plate on the bill
• Soars on flat, broad wings, often in synchronized flocks

Similar species

The American White Pelican is unlikely to be confused with any other North American species due to its immense size and bill; the Brown Pelican is much smaller, mostly grey-brown, and forages by plunge-diving rather than swimming.

Habitat and range

American White Pelicans breed colonially on islands in freshwater and alkaline lakes across the interior of western and central North America, and winter along coastal waters and wetlands of the southern United States, Mexico, and Central America.

They are strongly migratory, traveling in large flocks and often riding thermals to soar for long distances between breeding and wintering grounds.

Behavior

Unlike the plunge-diving Brown Pelican, American White Pelicans forage while swimming on the surface, often cooperating in groups to herd schools of fish into shallow water where they scoop them up with their expandable throat pouches.

Voice

Adults are largely silent away from the colony, but give low grunting and croaking calls near nests, while chicks produce begging calls.

Nesting and breeding

They nest in dense colonies on isolated islands, safe from ground predators, laying two eggs in a simple ground scrape. Pairs cooperate in incubation and chick-rearing, and colonies can include thousands of pairs on suitable lakes.