Breeding adult © Kishore Bakshi eBird S51851859 Macaulay Library ML 136018201
Nonbreeding adult/immature © Rajesh Radhakrishnan
Immature © Albin Jacob
Adult © Sanjay Malik
Adult © Fareed Mohmed
+ 2
Habitat © Ashwin Viswanathan

Spot-billed Pelican Pelecanus philippensis

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Identification

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A large pale waterbird with a hefty pinkish pouched bill marked with diagnostic dark spots on the upper mandible. The head is grizzled with a hint of a shaggy crest and the back of the neck is dark. Rings of bare skin around each eye that make this bird look like it's wearing glasses. In breeding plumage, the rump, sides, and underwing coverts are salmon pink and the breast ochre yellow. Often seen in large lakes and estuaries fishing in groups. Nests in noisy colonies in trees bleached by droppings.

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