Everglades National Park Birding: Brown Pelican

The brown pelican is a very large bird - and is a plunge diver. It drops from the air with its wings partly folded and dives into the water to catch its prey. It has a very long gray bill with a large pouch of skin. which holds two or three times more than its stomach -- about three gallons. It scoops up fish and water then strains out the water from the sides of its bill, tips back its head and swallows the fish it caught. Click here to return to Bird List