Pelicans | Pelecanidae

Pelikanen | Pelícanos

The throat pouch is not a larder but a dip net: each scoop brings in many litres of water along with the fish, and this is squeezed out along the sides, bill tipped down, before anything is swallowed. Two hunting methods occur. Swimming in shallow water, a group herds fish towards the bank in an arc or a line and then scoops in unison; or the bird drops onto a shoal from a height, turning a quarter-turn just before impact while air sacs beneath the skin absorb the blow. On the move they fly in long lines or in a V, alternating slow beats with long glides, often just above the waves where the cushion of compressed air adds lift. The chick pushes its head deep into the parent's throat to collect regurgitated food. Adults are all but silent, giving only low grunts at the colony.