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The brown pelican is the national bird of three Caribbean countries—Saint Kitts and Nevis, Barbados, and Sint Maarten—and features on their coats of arms. [136] [137] [138] It is also the state bird of the US state of Louisiana, which is known colloquially as the Pelican State; the bird appears on the state flag and state seal. [8]
Brown pelican showing throat pouch. The brown pelican is the smallest of the eight extant pelican species, but is often one of the larger seabirds in their range nonetheless. [15] [16] It measures 1 to 1.52 m (3 ft 3 in to 5 ft 0 in) in length and has a wingspan of 2.03 to 2.28 m (6 ft 8 in to 7 ft 6 in). [6]
Gular skin (throat skin), in ornithology, is an area of featherless skin on birds that joins the lower mandible of the beak (or bill) to the bird's neck. [1] Other vertebrate taxa may have a comparable anatomical structure that is referred to as either a gular sac, throat sac, vocal sac or gular fold .
As traditionally—but erroneously—defined, they encompass all birds that have feet with all four toes webbed. Hence, they were formerly also known by such names as totipalmates or steganopodes . Most have a bare throat patch (gular patch), and the nostrils have evolved into dysfunctional slits, forcing them to breathe through their mouths.
Pelicans are notable for their large throat pouch which they use to scoop fish up out of the water. They also have webbed feet which help them paddle through the water.
The American white pelican rivals the trumpeter swan, with a similar overall length, as one of the longest birds native to North America. Both very large and plump, it has an overall length of about 50–70 in (130–180 cm), courtesy of the huge beak which measures 11.3–15.2 in (290–390 mm) in males and 10.3–14.2 in (260–360 mm) in ...
The great white pelican is a huge bird—only the Dalmatian pelican is, on average, larger among pelicans. It measures 140 to 180 cm (55 to 71 in) in length [6] with a 28.9 to 47.1 cm (11.4 to 18.5 in) enormous pink and yellow bill, [6] and a dull pale-yellow gular pouch.
Pelecanimorphae is a clade of aequornithean birds that comprises the orders Ciconiiformes, Suliformes and Pelecaniformes. [ 3 ] [ 4 ] In the past the name has been used as a homonym for Pelecaniformes.