Great White Pelicans flying in a spectacular formation, over Black Point Wildlife Drive, Merritt Island Wildlife Reserve, Florida
The great white pelican is highly sociable and often forms large flocks. It is well adapted for aquatic life. The short strong legs and webbed feet propel it in water and aid a rather awkward takeoff from the water surface. In flight, it is an elegant soaring bird, with the head held close to and aligned with the body. Its flight consists of a few slow wingbeats followed by a glide. Once aloft, the long-winged pelicans are powerful fliers, however, and often travel in spectacular linear, circular, or V-formation groups. he great white pelican is a huge bird—only the Dalmatian pelican is, on average, larger among pelicans. It measures 140 to 180 cm (55 to 71 in) in length with a to cm ( to in) enormous pink and yellow bill,and a dull pale-yellow gular pouch. The wingspan measures 226 to 360 cm ( to ft), the latter measurement being the highest among extant flying animals outside of the great albatross. The adult male measures about 175 cm (69 in) in length; it weighs from 9 to 15 kg (20 to 33 lb) [3] and larger races from the Palaearctic are usually around 11 kg (24 lb), with few exceeding 13 kg (29 lb).[8] It has a bill measuring to cm ( to in). The female measures about 148 cm (58 in) in length, and is considerably less bulky, weighing to 9 kg (12 to 20 lb), and has a bill that measures to cm ( to in) in length.[8] In Lake Edward, Uganda, the average weight of 52 males was found to kg ( lb) and in 22 females it was kg ( lb). In South Africa, the average weight of males was kg (21 lb) and of females was kg (15 lb). Thus the sexual dimorphism is especially pronounced in this species (perhaps the greatest known in any extant pelican), as at times the male can average more than 30% more massive than the female.
Size: 5456px × 3227px
Location: Black Point Wildlife Drive, Merritt Island, Florida, USA
Photo credit: © John Gaffen / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: -formation, aerial, ballet, beautiful, bill, bird, black, circular, dancing, drive, elegant, enormous, feathers, fleshy-yellow, fliers, flock, flocks, florida, flying, formation, forms, great, group, groups., highly, huge, island, large, legs, linear, mangroves, merritt, onocrotalus, pelecanidae, pelecanus, pelicans, pink, point, powerful, primary, reserve, sky, soaring, sociable, spectacular, travel, white, wildlife, yellow
