Birds

Pelican

Pelecanidae · also called pelicans

Not Evaluated carnivore Coasts & shorelines Rivers & wetlands Ocean

A pelican carries a fishing net under its chin. The stretchy pouch slung from its lower bill holds three times what its stomach can, and the bird uses it as a scoop and a strainer, plunging it into a shoal, closing it, draining the water out the sides, and swallowing the fish. The design is old enough that a 30-million-year-old fossil skull looks just like a living pelican’s.

Overview

Pelicans are the family Pelecanidae, eight species, on every continent except Antarctica, on coasts, estuaries, large lakes, and marshes. They are among the heaviest flying birds — the Dalmatian pelican reaches 15 kg with a wingspan near 3.5 m — and all are fish eaters with the pouched bill.

Two ways to fish

The white pelicans fish cooperatively, forming a line or horseshoe and driving fish into the shallows to scoop them up together. The brown and Peruvian pelicans are plunge-divers, folding their wings and dropping from up to 20 m, cushioned by a layer of air sacs under the skin and by twisting their bodies on entry to keep the shock off the neck.

Chicks and a myth

Young pelicans feed by reaching deep into the parent’s throat for regurgitated fish soup, so a big chick looks like it is swallowing the adult’s head — the origin of the medieval belief that a pelican wounds its own breast to feed its young with blood.

Status

Pelicans as a family are Not Evaluated. Most are common or recovering — the American white and brown pelicans rebounded after DDT was banned, and the brown pelican left the US endangered list in 2009. The Dalmatian pelican is Near Threatened but increasing, while the spot-billed and Peruvian pelicans face wetland loss, colony disturbance, and prey overfishing.

Pelican: common questions

How much can a pelican hold in its pouch?

The stretchy pouch of skin under a large pelican's lower bill can expand to hold roughly 11 to 13 litres of water and fish, which is about three times the capacity of the bird's own stomach. Despite the old rhyme about the pelican's beak holding more than its belly can, the pouch is not used for storage. It is a scoop and a strainer. The pelican plunges the open bill into the water, closes it around a mass of fish and water, then lifts and tilts its head to let the water pour out through the sides of the bill before tipping its head back to swallow the fish. The whole sequence takes only a second or two, and a pelican that lingers with a full pouch risks a gull darting in to steal the catch.

How does a brown pelican dive without hurting itself?

A brown pelican hunts by climbing to between about 3 and 20 metres, spotting a fish, then folding its wings back and dropping in a steep, twisting dive, hitting the water beak-first at speed. Several features protect it. Just under the skin of the throat, breast, and shoulders is a layer of air sacs that inflate and act as bubble wrap, spreading and absorbing the shock of impact. The bird also rotates its body to the left as it enters, which keeps the force off the trachea and oesophagus, and its neck muscles brace the head. The impact stuns small fish near the surface, which the pelican then scoops up as it bobs back to the top.

Why do people say a pelican feeds its chicks with its own blood?

It does not, but the myth was widespread in medieval Europe and shows up in heraldry, church carvings, and religious art, where the pelican pecking its breast to feed its young became a symbol of self-sacrifice. The likely origin is that a feeding pelican presses the tip of its bill against its chest to help push regurgitated fish up out of the pouch, and a large chick jams its whole head down the parent's throat to feed, so from a distance it can look as though the adult is bleeding from the breast and the chicks are drinking it. The reddish tinge some pelicans develop on the breast in the breeding season may have reinforced the idea.

What is the difference between a pelican and a stork or heron?

Pelicans, storks, and herons are all large water birds, but they belong to different families and fish in different ways. A pelican has a very large body, short legs, fully webbed feet for swimming, and the unmistakable pouched bill, and it catches fish by scooping or diving. Storks are long-legged waders that walk and probe, fly with the neck outstretched, and are nearly silent. Herons are also long-legged, spear fish with a sudden strike of a folded S-shaped neck, and fly with the neck tucked back. In flight a pelican pulls its head back onto its shoulders like a heron, but its size, its shape, and the great bill make it hard to mistake for either.

Sources & further reading

Written by HideShark Editorial Team · reviewed by HideShark Science Desk. Published September 10, 2026. Last updated September 10, 2026.

Quick facts

Scientific name: Pelecanidae
Diet: Mostly fish, from small schooling species to fish over a kilogram, caught by the pouchful, along with crustaceans, amphibians, and, opportunistically, the eggs and chicks of other birds, and even small ducks, gulls, and pigeons swallowed whole by some individuals
A pouch that holds three times the stomach: The elastic skin pouch slung under a pelican's lower bill can stretch to hold around 11 to 13 litres, roughly three times what the bird's stomach can take, and it works as a dip net rather than a storage larder, since the bird tips its head to drain the water out before swallowing the catch
Two ways to fish: The white pelicans of the Old and New World fish cooperatively, swimming in a line or horseshoe and beating the water with their wings to drive fish into the shallows where the group scoops them up together, while the brown and Peruvian pelicans hunt alone or in loose groups by folding their wings and plunge-diving from up to 20 metres
Air bags that cushion the dive: A plunge-diving brown pelican hits the water hard enough to stun fish, and it is protected by a network of air sacs under the skin of the breast and by rotating its body slightly on entry, so the impact is spread rather than concentrated on the neck and chest
Among the heaviest flying birds: The Dalmatian pelican weighs up to about 15 kg with a wingspan approaching 3.5 m, making it one of the largest and heaviest flying birds in the world, and despite the bulk pelicans are efficient soarers that ride thermals and glide in long lines close to the water
Chicks that feed from the throat: Young pelicans reach deep into the parent's open bill and throat to take regurgitated fish soup, and a large chick appears to be swallowing the adult's head, a sight that gave rise to the medieval myth that the pelican wounds its own breast to feed its young with its blood
An ancient and little-changed design: Pelicans have one of the longest fossil records of any modern bird family, with a 30-million-year-old skull from France almost identical to a living pelican's, so the pouch-and-scoop body plan has worked essentially unchanged since before many mammal groups existed
Range: Every continent except Antarctica, on coasts, estuaries, large lakes, rivers, and inland marshes, with the American white pelican breeding on prairie lakes and wintering on southern coasts, the brown and Peruvian pelicans on the American coasts, the great white and pink-backed pelicans across Africa, the Dalmatian and great white in southeast Europe and central Asia, and the Australian pelican throughout Australia and New Guinea.
Conservation status: Not Evaluated ≈ Not assessed as a family of eight species, and most pelicans are common or recovering, with the American white and brown pelicans rebounded strongly after the pesticide DDT was banned, and the brown pelican removed from the United States endangered list in 2009, while the Dalmatian pelican is Near Threatened but increasing under protection, and the spot-billed pelican of South Asia and the Peruvian pelican are of some concern from wetland loss, disturbance at breeding colonies, overfishing of their prey, and entanglement in fishing gear in the wild