It has been suggested that this article or section be merged with New Zealand Pelican. (Discuss)

Australian Pelican
Conservation status
Least Concern
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia Phylum: Chordata Class: Aves Order: Pelecaniformes Family: Pelecanidae Genus: Pelecanus Species: P. conspicillatus
Binomial name
Pelecanus conspicillatus Temminck, 1824

The Australian Pelican (Pelecanus conspicillatus) is a large water bird, widespread on the inland and coastal waters of Australia and New Guinea, also in Fiji, parts of Indonesia and as a vagrant to New Zealand. Image File history File links Merge-arrows. ... The New Zealand Pelican is the name given to fossil remains of pelicans found in fossil deposits in New Zealand. ... Image File history File links Download high-resolution version (1067x1600, 407 KB) Australian Pelican (Pelecanus conspicillatus), Lakes Entrance, Victoria, Australia File links The following pages on the English Wikipedia link to this file (pages on other projects are not listed): Pelican Australian Pelican Talk:Pelican ... The conservation status of a species is an indicator of the likelihood of that species continuing to survive either in the present day or the future. ... Image File history File links Status_iucn3. ... Least Concern (LC) is an IUCN category assigned to extant species or lower taxa which have been evaluated but do not qualify for any other category. ... For other uses, see Scientific classification (disambiguation). ... For other uses, see Animal (disambiguation). ... Typical Classes See below Chordates (phylum Chordata) are a group of animals that includes the vertebrates, together with several closely related invertebrates. ... For other uses, see Bird (disambiguation). ... For other uses, see Pelican (disambiguation). ... For other uses, see Pelican (disambiguation). ... For other uses, see Pelican (disambiguation). ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ... Coenraad Jacob Temminck (March 31, 1778 - January 30, 1858) was a Dutch aristocrat and zoologist. ... For other uses, see Bird (disambiguation). ...

Physical description and taxonomy

Australian Pelicans are medium-sized by pelican standards: 1.6 to 1.8 metres (5.3-6 feet) long with a wingspan of 2.3 to 2.5 metres (7.6-8.3 feet) and weighing 4 to 10 kilograms (8.8-22 pounds). They are predominantly white with black along the primaries of the wings. The pale, pinkish bill is enormous, even by pelican standards, and is the largest bill in the avian world. The record-sized bill was 49 cm (19.5 inches) long. For other uses, see Pelican (disambiguation). ... This article is about the unit of length. ... “Kg” redirects here. ...

The species became first known to occur in New Zealand from a specimen shot at Jerusalem in 1890 and small numbers of subfossil bones, the first found at Lake Grassmere in 1947, followed by records of other stray individuals. The bones were later described as a new (sub)species, Pelecanus (conspicillatus) novaezealandiae (Scarlett, 1966: "New Zealand Pelican") as they appeared to be larger, but Worthy (1998), reviewing new material, determined that they were not separable from the Australian population. St Joseph’s Church at Jerusalem Jerusalem was once an important kainga (fishing village) on the Whanganui River in New Zealand where a Roman Catholic mission was first established in 1854. ... Year 1890 (MDCCCXC) was a common year starting on Wednesday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a common year starting on Monday of the Julian calendar). ... Subfossil is attributed to bones or whole skeletons (and, in general all materials having living parts that can become fossil) whose fossilization process is not complete, either for lack of time or because the condition in which bones were buried were non optimal for fossilization. ... Lake Grassmere is found close to the shore of Cook Strait in the northeastern South Island of New Zealand. ... Year 1947 (MCMXLVII) was a common year starting on Wednesday (link will display full 1947 calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ...

Distribution and habitat

The Australian pelicans are widespread on the inland and coastal waters of Australia and New Guinea, also in Fiji, parts of Indonesia and as a vagrant to New Zealand.

Australian Pelicans prefer large expanses of open water without too much aquatic vegetation. The surrounding environment is unimportant: it can be forest, grassland, desert, estuarine mudflats, an ornamental city park, or industrial wasteland, provided only that there is open water able to support a sufficient supply of fish. This article is about a community of trees. ... The Konza tallgrass prairie in the Flint Hills of northeastern Kansas. ... This article is about arid terrain. ... For other meanings, see Estuary (disambiguation) Rio de la Plata estuary An estuary is a semi-enclosed coastal body of water with one or more rivers or streams flowing into it, and with a free connection to the open sea. ... For other uses, see Fish (disambiguation). ...

Australian Pelicans follow no particular schedule of regular movement, simply following the availability of food supplies. When the normally barren Lake Eyre filled during 1974 to 1976, for example, only a handful of pelicans remained around the coastal cities: when the great inland lakes dried again, the population dispersed once more, flocks of thousands being seen on the northern coasts and some individuals reaching Christmas Island, Palau and New Zealand. This article does not cite any references or sources. ... Year 1974 (MCMLXXIV) was a common year starting on Tuesday (link will display full calendar) of the 1974 Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1976 Pick up sticks(MCMLXXVI) was a leap year starting on Thursday (link will display full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ...

Reproduction

Breeding Australian pelicans will lay one or two eggs. After they hatch, the larger one will be fed more, and the smaller one will eventually die of starvation. For the first two weeks the chicks will be fed regurgitated liquid, but for the remaining two months they will be fed fish such as goldfish or the introduced European carp, and some invertebrates. Widespread throughout its large range, the Australian Pelican is evaluated as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. This article is about extreme malnutrition. ... Trinomial name Carassius auratus auratus (Linnaeus, 1758) For the baked snack crackers, please see Goldfish (snack). ... Binomial name Cyprinus carpio (Linnaeus, 1758) The Common Carp or European Carp (Cyprinus carpio) is a widespread freshwater fish distantly related to the common goldfish. ... Invertebrate is an English word that describes any animal without a spinal column. ... The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species (also known as the IUCN Red List and Red Data List), created in 1963, is the worlds most comprehensive inventory of the global conservation status of plant and animal species and can be found here. ...

References

• BirdLife International (2004). Pelecanus conspicillatus. 2006 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. IUCN 2006. Retrieved on 12 May 2006. Database entry includes justification for why this species is of least concern.
• Scarlett, R. J. (1966): A Pelican in New Zealand. Notornis 13(4): 204-217. PDF fulltext
• Worthy, Trevor H. (1998): A remarkable fossil and archaeological fauna from Marfells Beach, Lake Grassmere, South Island, New Zealand. Records of the Canterbury Museum 12: 79-176.
• Australian Pelican - Australian Museum Online

The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species (also known as the IUCN Red List and Red Data List), created in 1963, is the worlds most comprehensive inventory of the global conservation status of plant and animal species and can be found here. ... The World Conservation Union or International Union for the Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources (IUCN) is an international organization dedicated to natural resource conservation. ...

Gallery

At Melbourne Zoo Download high resolution version (1024x900, 287 KB)A Pelican at the Melbourne Zoo Taken by User:Fir0002 File links The following pages link to this file: Australian Pelican Categories: GFDL images ... The Royal Melbourne Zoological Gardens, commonly known as the Melbourne Zoo, contains more than 350 animal species from Australia and around the world. ...	Artificial feeding at The Entrance, NSW Image File history File links Download high resolution version (1200x800, 145 KB)Feeding the pelicans at The Entrance. ... The Entrance is a suburb on the Central Coast of New South Wales, Australia. ...	Beach roosting at Moreton Island Image File history File linksMetadata Size of this preview: 800 × 533 pixel Image in higher resolution (2171 × 1447 pixel, file size: 633 KB, MIME type: image/jpeg) File links The following pages on the English Wikipedia link to this file (pages on other projects are not listed): Australian Pelican User... Moreton Island is the island in the top-right of this satellite image Moreton Island from above the waters of Moreton Bay Moreton Island is a large sand island on the eastern side of Moreton Bay, on the coast of south-east Queensland, Australia. ...	Lake Albert, New South Wales Image File history File linksMetadata Size of this preview: 800 × 600 pixel Image in higher resolution (1000 × 750 pixel, file size: 789 KB, MIME type: image/jpeg) Pelicans swimming in Lake Albert at Wagga Wagga. ... Lake Albert (35°09′S 147°22′E) is a man made lake near Wagga Wagga in New South Wales, Australia and also the name of a suburb on the shores of the lake. ...
At Tangalooma, during artificial feeding session Image File history File linksMetadata Download high-resolution version (2272x1704, 859 KB) A white pelican at Tangalooma Wild Dolphin Resort, Moreton Island. ... Tangalooma is a small resort on Moreton Island in Moreton Bay, Queensland. ...	At Noosaville, Queensland Download high resolution version (1167x1319, 1335 KB)This is a file from the Wikimedia Commons, a repository of free content hosted by the Wikimedia Foundation. ... Category: ...

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to:

Australian Pelican

• Pelican videos on the Internet Bird Collection
• BirdLife Species Factsheet
• IUCN Red List
• Australian Museum fact sheet
• Gould's The Birds of Australia plate
• Australian Pelicans at Victor Harbor, South Australia

Image File history File links Commons-logo. ... John Gould John Gould (14 September 1804 – 3 February 1881) was an English ornithologist. ... The Emu from The Birds of Australia. ...