Brown Pelican
Pelicans are a genus of large water birds in the family Pelecanidae. They are characterised by a long beak and large throat pouch used in catching, and draining water from, their prey. The eight living pelican species have a patchy global distribution, ranging latitudinally from the tropics to the temperate zone, though they are absent from much of interior and southern South America as well as from polar regions and the open ocean. Fossil evidence of pelicans dates back at least 30 million years, to the remains of a beak very similar to that of modern species recovered from Oligocene strata in France. Long thought to be related to frigatebirds, cormorants, tropicbirds, gannets and boobies, pelicans are now known instead to be most closely related to the Shoebill and Hammerkop, and are placed in the order Pelecaniformes. Ibises, spoonbills and herons are more distant relatives, and have been classified in the same order. Pelicans frequent inland and coastal waters where they feed principally on fish. Gregarious birds, they breed colonially and often hunt cooperatively. They have a long history of cultural significance in mythology, and in Christian and heraldic iconography.
Size: 6050px × 4032px
Location: Northwest Florida, USA
Photo credit: © Richard Higgins / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: america, bird, brown, color, colorful, colour, colourful, florida, flying, gliding, gulf, mexico, nature, north, ocean, pelican, sea, souring, states, united, usa, waterfowl, wildlife
