Australian Pelican

AUSTRLIAN PELICANS HIGH FLIERS

Pelicans are quite distinctive birds  you cannot miss them with their large bills 

which are very useful instruments for the birds . Sometimes I think a whole human being would be 

able to fit into them , maybe its a good thing that we cannot otherwise a lot people would be carried away by them. The birds are found near or on water even in far inland Australia when the inland sea 

fills up every now and then where they will come and have a bit of a holiday .Pelicans can be solitary 

or they will hang out together in flocks of up to 1000 birds can get a bit crowded especially in the

breeding season when there will be up to 40,000 birds in a colony imagine the noise .

The female will strut around teasing a few males stirring them up a bit as they follow her around 

then the males will start to get a bit macho and start fighting each other for her favours. Sound

familiar well the the winner gets the prize . When the chicks hatch the first is usually bigger than the

other chicks so he gets most of the food and shoves the smaller ones around even killing them.

As the chicks get older they leave the nest and live other chicks in large groups till they are old to go and fly.

Pelicans don't flap their wing for long mostly while taking off and landing instead they soar high in the sky on the thermal air currents at speeds up to 50 kilometres an hour for up to 24hrs pretty impressive given they have a wingspan up 2-5 m long . Next time you see a pelican hopefully it is when they are up high in the sky as it is quite an impressive sight to see.