Pelican Identification Question. (1 Viewer)

[Xelioszzapporro!!]

Greetings everyone! I have one question about Pelicans.

How can we tell the difference between Pink- Backed Pelican ( Pelecanus Rufescens) .....and Spot Billed Pelican (Pelecanus Philippensis)..???

Like , what are the physical features that distinguish them ?


I would appreciate an answer.

 

[Butty]

Could you give the locations and dates of the photos, please? - and say whether or not they are captive. Thanks.

 

[Xelioszzapporro!!]

Could you give the locations and dates of the photos, please? - and say whether or not they are captive. Thanks.

Those pictures are not taken by me. They are from the internet.

The Pink Backed Pelican natural habitat is Central and South Africa.
The Spot Billed Pelican natural habitat is in India and Indonesia.

 

[Xelioszzapporro!!]

Can somebody tell me the difference ?

 

[dantheman]

Can somebody tell me the difference ?

It's a fair question, and hopefully someone can help.

But for starters, often similar species are told apart on range (ie where they are ) . Don't know if there is any possible overlap in migrants/vagrants.

This page describes them slightly differently - Pelican - Wikipedia

But checking more photos may be required, and may not be accurate at all, or for different age/sex classes.


Just to be aware, using photos from the internet generally frowned on - much better to provide a link to the original online (or if permission has been granted to use, quoting the source)

 

[jurek]

Hi,
I have no access to HBW or Seabirds book, but first impression are black dots on the bill of the Spot-billed Pelican, black spot between eye and bill of the Pink-backed, and bare eye skin which does not touch the bill in Spot-billed but does so in Pink-backed. Note that the Pink-backed Pelican on the photo is in full breeding plumage, with long head feathers and pink back which don't occur on Spot-billed at any time. But I may be way off. Birders son't normally have problems with these, as they are separated by range. You can also try to as on zoochat.org, zoo people may have the problem of identifying a zoo pelican.

 

[Xelioszzapporro!!]

I found the differences!

 

[Butty]

. . . and they are . . . ?

 

[Xelioszzapporro!!]

. . . and they are . . . ?

Pelecanus Philippensis has always 2 lines full of dots and specks on each side of their bill. Almost all of them have a red ring around their eyeball which has contact with a bigger line that covers their eyes which is either white or yellow.

Pelecanus Rufescens doesn't have dots or specks on their bills. They have a yellow pouch. While Pelecanus Philippensis don't have yellow pouch.
Their pouches are either white or blueish color.

 

[JSmolders]

Spot-Billed

• Fieldmarks: A large pale waterbird with a hefty pinkish pouched bill marked with diagnostic dark spots on the upper mandible. (from ebird.org)
• Range: Southern India to Western Vietnam.

Pink-Backed

• Fieldmarks: Small for a pelican. Adult is mostly pale gray with a pinkish bill and (in breeding plumage) a gray crest. (from ebird.org)
• Range: Africa.

You should be able to easily disambiguate by range, but if you're at a zoo and wondering what you are looking at, focus on the bill.