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| Spot-billed Pelican: Pelecanus philippensis Local Names: Hawasil or Kurer (Hindi); Mahaplav (Sanskrit); Gooda Bathu (Telugu) |
Spot-billed Pelican: Pelecanus philippensis. Local Names: Hawasil or Kurer (Hindi); Mahaplav (Sanskrit); Gooda Bathu (Telugu)
Status: Near-threatened.
The weekend gone by was a foggy one beyond the borders of Delhi, which became denser as the city's concrete receded into wide open spaces and hail/rain-tenderized fields. My initial plan was to head into the Himalayas for a day's birding in a different northern ecosystem to capture the last of winter's migrant birds as well as different species. But driving into the Uttarakhand Himalayas for a short and speedy weekend through the fog was not recommended. Friday evening passed; I chafed all Saturday - evening loomed gloomily upon what could have been a final birding weekend of the season. It was then that Gabru Parmanand, my birding guru at Keoladeo Ghana Bird Sanctuary, called me up. In a trice, the fogginess cleared in my mind and I began recharging batteries, cleaning up memory cards, lenses, binoculars, gathering and packing my birding and photography gear. Since I frequently have to go into thorny brambles, I wear a tough jacket and trousers to protect me. Essential in the habitats I get into even if they end up as a portable sauna as the sun rises and one's exercise levels increases. Then the boots...tough and protective given the bogs and marshes I land myself in, and the presence of reptiles and thorns of course, but they also have to be light enough to permit alacrity. I had found one such pair through hit and trial. Well, I got all that gear together, fixed my ride to Keoladeo for 1.30 A.M., and was about to grab some sleep when the phone rang in and a patient with a chronic recalcitrant problem sought to come over for urgent advice, late hour notwithstanding.
Anyway, one was on the road by the destined hour, slightly doozy from lack of sleep, but game for the day ahead. An early start was indicated to accommodate fog that was certain to envelop us as we swept into the plains of Uttar Pradesh and through verdant aspects of adjacent Rajasthan. Yet we reached later than usual, thanks to the density that slowed us down to a crawl and frequently halted us to allow highway winds to lighten it up a bit. We sipped hot sweet chai from glasses wrapped inside our palms meanwhile...
The fog hung over through morning and was only around the noon hour that it lifted to clearly expose resident birds and migrating laggards.
But in that morning fog one spotted this Spot-billed Pelican sailing in stately fashion through the marshy water-body. Its demeanor was very much like Titanic setting out to sea surrounded by tiny harbor boats.
It is a rather large bird though it can fold into itself like storks, cranes, flamingoes, egrets and such. Therefore, its size may look different at different times depending upon its mood. They are about 150-160 centimeters with a large wingspan of 5-6 meters or more.
Gregarious and living usually in flocks, the Spot-billed pelican isn't very noisy.
Both sexes look alike. The head, neck and upper-parts are usually grey with mottled-brown tail-coverts. In winter lower back, rump and flanks are tinged with reddish-brown feathers. The under-parts are usually greyish white. Juveniles are pale brown above and white below. There is a seasonal variation in the colour of their feathers. Their legs and feet dark brown.
The typical feature is their bill. Long with expandable throat pouches to scoop in fish, amphibians and crabs, reptiles and such delicacies just beneath the surface, and maybe the odd small water bird on the surface. This pouch is called a 'gular pouch' and is yellowish flesh-coloured, with bluish-grey spots on upper mandible and grey-blackish marking on pouch.
Breeding from September to April. Nests are in groups, like a colony, on tree-tops set back from water and made up of sticks and twigs.
This species was earlier widespread but has dramatically shrunk to breeding pockets in Asian countries like India, Sri Lanka and Cambodia. It is categorized as Near-threatened. The dangers to this species are mainly Anthropogenic including: loss of waterland habitat to agriculture and construction; felling of trees; hunting and poaching of chicks and eggs; loss of waterland habitat to invasive species of plants and weeds; conversion of feeding waterbodies for commercial aquaculture by various fishery groups; and extensive use of pesticides and chemicals which drain into their feeding wetlands. These are some of the problems faced by them.
Fishermen traditionally used them as guides, due to their stately quality mentioned earlier which extends into their flight also, to spot fishing zones and, curiously, these pelicans preferred fish which was not considered edible by man. They were never in competition with fishermen and fish-consuming human beings...we just chose to compete with the pelicans!
But in that morning fog one spotted this Spot-billed Pelican sailing in stately fashion through the marshy water-body. Its demeanor was very much like Titanic setting out to sea surrounded by tiny harbor boats.
It is a rather large bird though it can fold into itself like storks, cranes, flamingoes, egrets and such. Therefore, its size may look different at different times depending upon its mood. They are about 150-160 centimeters with a large wingspan of 5-6 meters or more.
Gregarious and living usually in flocks, the Spot-billed pelican isn't very noisy.
Both sexes look alike. The head, neck and upper-parts are usually grey with mottled-brown tail-coverts. In winter lower back, rump and flanks are tinged with reddish-brown feathers. The under-parts are usually greyish white. Juveniles are pale brown above and white below. There is a seasonal variation in the colour of their feathers. Their legs and feet dark brown.
The typical feature is their bill. Long with expandable throat pouches to scoop in fish, amphibians and crabs, reptiles and such delicacies just beneath the surface, and maybe the odd small water bird on the surface. This pouch is called a 'gular pouch' and is yellowish flesh-coloured, with bluish-grey spots on upper mandible and grey-blackish marking on pouch.
Breeding from September to April. Nests are in groups, like a colony, on tree-tops set back from water and made up of sticks and twigs.
This species was earlier widespread but has dramatically shrunk to breeding pockets in Asian countries like India, Sri Lanka and Cambodia. It is categorized as Near-threatened. The dangers to this species are mainly Anthropogenic including: loss of waterland habitat to agriculture and construction; felling of trees; hunting and poaching of chicks and eggs; loss of waterland habitat to invasive species of plants and weeds; conversion of feeding waterbodies for commercial aquaculture by various fishery groups; and extensive use of pesticides and chemicals which drain into their feeding wetlands. These are some of the problems faced by them.
Fishermen traditionally used them as guides, due to their stately quality mentioned earlier which extends into their flight also, to spot fishing zones and, curiously, these pelicans preferred fish which was not considered edible by man. They were never in competition with fishermen and fish-consuming human beings...we just chose to compete with the pelicans!
Photographed at Keoladeo Ghana Bird Sanctuary, Bharatpur, Rajasthan, India on 2nd March, 2014
Camera used: Nikon D5100 DSLR with AF-S DX NIKKOR 55-300mm VR Lens
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