Peruvian pelican

Quality 0.50 · 1 view · Updated 2 months ago

Species of bird

title: "Peruvian pelican" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["pelecanus", "birds-of-peru", "birds-of-chile", "western-south-american-coastal-birds", "birds-described-in-1782"] description: "Species of bird" topic_path: "geography/united-states" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peruvian_pelican" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary Species of bird ::

| name = Peruvian pelican | image = Pelícano en Pucusana.JPG | status = NT | status_system = IUCN3.1 | status_ref = | genus = Pelecanus | species = thagus | authority = Molina, 1782 | synonyms =

  • Pelecanus occidentalis thagus Molina, 1782
  • Pelecanus barbieri Oustalet, 1878 | range_map = Pelecanus thagus map.svg

The Peruvian pelican (Pelecanus thagus) is a member of the pelican family. It lives on the west coast of South America, breeding in loose colonies from about 33.5 degrees south in central Chile to Piura in northern Peru, and occurring as a visitor in southern Chile and Ecuador. 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 feathers on the top of their heads. It was previously considered a subspecies of the brown pelican (Pelecanus occidentalis). The Peruvian pelican is considerably larger, ranging from about 5 to(-) in weight, 137 to(-) in length and with a wingspan of about 228 cm. 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. 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 shags, young Peruvian diving petrels, gray gulls and cannibalize unrelated chicks of their own species. They also feed on pelagic species such as anchovies. In fact, those in the northern Humboldt Current System feed almost exclusively on one species, the Peruvian anchoveta.

The birds feed around cold-water upwellings, being found along the Humboldt Current.

Conservation

Its status was first evaluated for the IUCN Red List in 2008, being listed as Near threatened. 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, 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

References

  1. BirdLife International. (2018). "''Pelecanus thagus''".
  2. "Peruvian pelican".
  3. (2010-05-04). "Birds of Peru: Revised and Updated Edition". Princeton University Press.
  4. "Peruvian Pelican (Pelecanus thagus) - BirdLife species factsheet".
  5. Jaramillo, A.. (2009). "Humboldt Current seabirding in Chile". Neotropical Birding.
  6. (2013). "Specialization to cold-water upwellings may facilitate gene flow in seabirds: new evidence from the Peruvian pelican Pelecanus thagus (Pelecaniformes: Pelecanidae)". Journal of Avian Biology.
  7. (2016). "Presence of the Peruvian Pelican Pelicanus thagus in seabird colonies of Chilean Patagonia". Marine Ornithology.
  8. (2012). "Fledgling Peruvian Pelicans (Pelecanus thagus) attack and consume younger unrelated conspecifics". Wilson Journal of Ornithology.
  9. (2016). "Seasonality in marine ecosystems: Peruvian seabirds, anchovy, and oceanographic conditions". Ecology.
  10. [[BirdLife International]] (BLI) (2008) [http://www.birdlife.org/datazone/species/index.html?action=SpcHTMDetails.asp&sid=3816&m=0 Peruvian Pelican Species Factsheet], [http://www.birdlife.org/action/science/species/global_species_programme/whats_new.html 2008 IUCN Redlist status changes].
  11. BirdLife International.. (2018). "''Pelecanus thagus''".

::callout[type=info title="Wikipedia Source"] This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page. ::

pelecanusbirds-of-perubirds-of-chilewestern-south-american-coastal-birdsbirds-described-in-1782