Birds and Happiness: Bird Watching

Spot Billed Pelican

A large squat waterbird, chiefly grey and greyish white with a brown nuchal crest. Short stout legs, large webbed feet and enormous heavy flattened bill, underhung throughout its length by an elastic bag of purpilish pink and is also spotted on the sides of the upper mandible. The tip of the bill (or nail) is yellow to orange. In breeding plumage, the skin at the base of the beak is dark and the orbital patch is pink.

Local Names : Hawaso (Hindi)

Kulakeda (Tamil)

Kotumpannom ( Malyalam)

Scientific Name : Pelecanus philippensis

The spot-billed pelican is a relatively small pelican but still a large bird.

The main habitat is in shallow lowland freshwaters. The spot-billed pelican is not migratory but are known to make local movements and are more widely distributed in the non-breeding season.

This species is a colonial breeder, often breeding in the company of other waterbirds. The nests are on low trees near wetlands and sometimes near human habitations.

They are very silent although at their nests they can make hisses, grunts or snap their bills. It catches fish in its huge bill pouch while swimming at the surface.

Considering their size the bird take off the water with little effort, and when once launched fly strongly with steady rhythmical wings beats, heads drawn in between the shoulders

The birds nest in colonies and the nest is a thick platform of twigs placed on a low tree. The nests are usually built alongside other colonial waterbirds, particularly painted storks. Three to four chalky white eggs is the usual clutch. The eggs become dirty with age. Eggs hatch in about 30–33 days. The young stay in or near the nest from three to five months