Spot-billed Pelican
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[Photo] Spot billed pelican. Photograph by Kousik Nandy. Date Dec 19, 2004

The Spot-billed Pelican (Pelecanus philippensis) is a member of the pelican family. It breeds in southern Asia from India to Indonesia. It is a bird of large inland and coastal waters, especially shallow lakes. The nest is a heap of vegetation in a tree. Three to four eggs is the usual clutch size.

The Spot-billed Pelican is a small pelican, at 125-150 cm (49-60 in) long and a weight of 6 kg (13.2 lbs). It is mainly white, with a grey crest, hindneck and tail. In breeding plumage, there is a pink tone to the rump and underwings. Non-breeders are off-white in these areas, and immature birds are more extensively brown. As the species' name implies, there are grey spots on the pink bill in the breeding season.

The Spot-billed Pelican is sedentary resident with local movements and is distributed more widely in the non-breeding season. Like most other pelicans, it catches fish in its huge bill pouch while swimming at the surface.

Due to ongoing habitat lost and human disturbances, the Spot-billed Pelican was evaluated as Vulnerable on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. In 2007 it was downgraded to Near Threatened, owing to protection and increased knowledge.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spot-billed_Pelican

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