This may cause a debate amongst the Keepers but I think the title for the best hairdo at the park has to go to our group of Pink-backed Pelicans! In my blog this week I would love to introduce you to these fantastic birds and talk a bit about why I think Pelicans are just awesome.

Pink-backed Pelican at Wingham Wildlife Park, Kent
Pink-backed Pelican at Wingham Wildlife Park

We have three Pink-backed Pelicans here at the park, two boys called Barry and Maurice and our Female is called Robin. Top points if you can guess which 1960s pop group they have all been named after! Out of the eight species of Pelican these are one of the smallest with a wingspan of between 265-290 cm and a weight of between 4kg and 7kg.

preening: Pink-backed Pelicans preening at Wingham Wildlife Park.

As you can see in the photo below they are aptly named! As the birds mature their backs, bellies and bills gain a pinkish colour and they develop long feathers on the back of their heads. You can often see ours preening in their enclosure next to the Flamingos and taking care of those impressive plumes takes a lot of time and effort. Pelicans even have a pectinate nail on their longest toe to help comb through and separate their feathers. More about how birds take care of their feathers here.

Pink-backed Pelican showing the pinkish colour on the back.
Pink-backed Pelican showing the pinkish colour on the back.

All of our Pelicans are 11 years old and they have wildly different characters but they usually greet us like this at feed times (photo below). Barry is the greediest and is also our bravest Pelican. As a result you might often see him doing a dance to the keepers. As he has been hand-raised he certainly likes to show off to us. Maurice is a bit more laid back and he can usually be found sitting with Robin who is our shyest Pelican and tends to be a bit more cautious and less likely to mob us at feed times.

Pink-backed Pelicans at WWP: Boys Barry (front left) & Maurice (front right) and female Robin (back).
Pink-backed Pelicans at WWP: Boys Barry (front left) & Maurice (front right) and female Robin (back).

Pelicans in the wild

Barry, Maurice and Robin’s wild cousins can be found throughout sub-Saharan Africa and Southern Arabia. They used to have breeding colonies in Madagascar but are sadly now extinct in that area. Of course they are associated with aquatic habitats like lakes, rivers and lagoons and they prefer to feed in quiet areas of shallow water where fish and vegetation are abundant and they often move long distances in response to changing water conditions.

I remember always having an admiration for Pelicans and I guess it started by seeing the Great White Pelicans at St. James’ Park in London. They seem to have fascinated scientists over the years as well as their classification has been long argued over. Looking at their DNA, Pelicans now fit on the avian family tree in the order of birds called the Pelecaniformes along with Herons & Bitterns, Shoebills, Ibises & Spoonbills and the Hamerkop but the relationships between these groups are still uncertain. They used to be grouped in with the Cormorants, Frigate Birds, Gannets, Boobies & Tropic Birds.

Pelican’s webbed feet with unusual webbing between the fourth toe.

So, what do the Pelicans have in common? This prehistoric looking family of birds, the Pelecanidae, are at least 30 million years old and they can be found on every continent except Antarctica. They all have totipalmate feet which means that they have webbing between all four toes, whereas water birds usually only tend to have webbing between three toes. Their nostrils have also evolved into dysfunctional slits and are completely sealed off beneath the bill’s horny sheath, forcing them to breathe through their mouths. The nostrils aren’t completely redundant though as they house glands which remove excess salt from their blood. Pelicans like a lot of the other families in this group have a bare throat patch called a gular pouch and as you can see in the picture below it is elastic-like.

“ A wonderful bird is the pelican.
His beak can hold more than his belly can.
He can hold in his beak enough food for a week.
But I’ll be damned if I can see how the helican!”

  • Dixon Lanier Merritt

I think every time I’m chatting Pelican to people the famous limerick crops up in conversation. I think because of this many people mistakenly think that their pouch is used to store fish, but in fact their use their pouches to capture their prey. The pouch is very flexible and the Pelican’s lower jaw bones are capable of bowing outwards, making them very effective fishing nets! Once they have their catch the bird drains any water by tilting its head and contracting the pouch before swallowing their meal.

Barry the Pink-backed Pelican gular pouch detail.
Barry the Pink-backed Pelican gular pouch detail.

The diet of Pink-backed Pelicans is mainly fish, but unlike other members of the family they can often be seen fishing alone or in small groups. We often have to be wary of the large hooks at the tip of their bills which can also be used for gripping larger fish. Pelicans often like to live in warmer climates and can also flutter their pouches to cool down. Amazingly two species of Pelicans, the Brown Pelican and Peruvian Pelicans plunge-dive for food! But, this is very risky business and probably why most pelicans feed together gathering in a V-shape to drive fish into the shallows.

Since recently moving to their new enclosure we have started to see signs of Romance from Maurice & Robin. This year they chose to take up a nest in their indoor house. Pelicans are normally quite silent but I adore their affectionate hissing sounds which you can hear in the video below. Sadly, we haven’t had babies from our Pelicans yet however, in the wild they would usually nest in trees, on sandy island and in mangroves. Breeding colonies can contain 20-500 pairs of birds and can be up to 10-50m high off of the ground! Pelican pairs are usually monogamous (staying together) and will reuse and add to their nest from year to year if it has not collapsed. Due to the weight of the nests and the guano deposits the trees often die at nest sites, forcing breeding colonies to move.

Pink-backed Pelicans Maurice & Robin on their nest at WWP.

They lay two to three eggs and the males and females take it in turns to look after their eggs and young. Unlike most birds Pelican’s don’t develop a brood patch, but instead incubate their eggs with their feet. After around 30 days the chicks hatch blind and helpless growing quickly until they leave the nest after about 10-12 weeks. However, chick mortality is often high due to sibling aggression. Young pelicans feed by sticking their bills into their parent’s throats. These birds are known to live around 30 years.

Pink-backed Pelicans are not classed as threatened on the IUCN red list as the global population is still quite large and they are found in protected areas. However, their extinction from Madagascar should still show cause for concern. These pelicans face threats from habitat loss from draining of wetlands for cultivation, disturbance from human development and loss of nesting trees from logging activity.

Keeper for the day experience: helping to feed our Pink-backed Pelicans.
Keeper for the day experience: helping to feed our Pink-backed Pelicans.

I hope you have learned something new about pelicans and I will leave you with a couple of photos of our Pelicans with the other residents in their enclosure: Jeffrey the Indian Runner Duck and Derek the White Stork. If you would like to get up close and personal to our Pelicans, you can come and feed them on our Keeper for the day experience.

Robin the Pink-backed Pelican and Derek the White Stork.
Robin the Pink-backed Pelican and Derek the White Stork.
Barry the Pink-backed Pelican and Jeffrey the Indian Runner Duck.
Barry the Pink-backed Pelican and Jeffrey the Indian Runner Duck.

About Becky - Head of Birds

Becky has been with the park since 2010, at which time all of the keepers had to work with all of the animals. Once we moved across to having different sections, Becky became head of the birds & mammals section, and has also progressed to assistant head keeper, covering Ruth's jobs when she is not on site. Becky has a real passion for birds, with a huge amount of dedication to the parks group of penguins, and spending much of her free time supporting wild bird conservation.