Pelicans | Pelecanidae

Pelikanen | Pelícanos | Pelicans

All four toes are joined by webbing — heavy birds on short legs that swim exceptionally well. Slung under the lower mandible is an elastic pouch, not a larder but a dip net: the water drains away along the edges of the bill and the fish is swallowed at once. The Brown and Peruvian Pelicans take their fish by plunge-diving from the air, air sacs beneath the skin cushioning the impact and then keeping the body riding high; the American White Pelican, only a vagrant here, fishes while swimming, groups driving fish together in the shallows. On very long broad wings they glide in lines low over the waves or soar on the updraft along the cliffs. Along the Humboldt Current the Peruvian Pelican breeds packed close together in colonies on the guano islands and the desert coast; they lay two or three chalky white eggs that are incubated on top of the webbed feet, and the young hatch naked.