Great White Pelican
- It is a bird in the pelican family.
- It is also known as the eastern white pelican, rosy pelican or white pelican.
Geographic distribution
- It is mainly found in southeastern Europe, Asia and Africa.
Behaviour
- Northern populations of this species are fully migratory and travel via important stop-over sites. Other populations are sedentary, dispersive or nomadic, flying over land to seek suitable feeding locations.
- The species nests in large colonies of 200 to 40,000 pairs.
- It usually fishes in flocks of 8-12 individuals and migrates in large flocks of 50-500 individuals. The species regularly flies long distances from breeding or roosting colonies to feed, mostly fishing in the early-morning and early-evening.
Habitat
- The species is associated with relatively large, warm, shallow fresh, brackish, alkaline or saline lakes, lagoons, marshes, broad rivers, deltas, estuaries and coasts of landlocked seas.
- The species requires secure areas of extensive wet swamps, mudflats and sandbanks or gravel and rocky substrates for nesting.
Diet
- The species is entirely piscivorous, preferentially taking fish of between 300 and 600 g in weight.
Threats
The species is threatened by:
- Habitat destruction through drainage
- Divergence of rivers for irrigation, agriculture development and industry
- Floods leading to the inundation of nesting sites
- Persecution
- Hunting for sport because of its (minimal) depredation of fish from fish-farms
- Collisions with electric power lines during migration
- Pesticides
- Heavy metal contamination
Conservation Actions
The species is listed under:
- Appendix I of the Convention on Migratory Species
- Appendix II of the Bern Convention
- Annex I of the Birds Directive
- In its European range, it occurs within 43 Important Bird Areas.
- In the EU, it is listed within 108 Special Protection Areas.
It has been rated as a species of least concern on the IUCN Red list of Endangered Species. - It is one of the species to which the Agreement on the Conservation of African Eurasian Migratory Waterbirds is applied.
Kolleru Lake
- It is the largest freshwater lake and is located in Andhra Pradesh.
- It is located between Krishna and Godavari delta and covers an area of 308 km².
- The lake serves as a natural flood-balancing reservoir for these two rivers.
- The lake is fed directly by water from the seasonal Budameru and Tammileru streams and is connected to the Krishna and Godavari systems by over 68 inflowing drains and channels.
- It serves as a habitat for migratory birds.
- It supports the livelihood of fishermen and riparian population in the area.
- The lake was notified as a wildlife sanctuary in November 1999 under India’s Wild Life (Protection) Act, 1972.
- It has been designated as a wetland of international importance in November 2002 under the international Ramsar Convention.
Section : Environment & Ecology
