Spot-billed Pelican

Pelecanus philippensis Gmelin, JF, 1789

125–152 cmLength230 cmWingspan5 kgWeight

The adult has spots along the sides of the upper mandible and a pink to purple gular pouch.

Busiest months: January–February · Most records: India, Sri Lanka, Cambodia

Near Threatened

How to identify

Field marks

Spots along both sides of the upper mandible
Pink to purple gular pouch with pale spots
Curled nape feathers form a gray crest
Bill tip yellow to orange

Male, female and young

Bill spots appear only after one year of age, and full adult breeding plumage develops in the third year.

Voice

Usually very quiet; hisses and grunts beside the nest and also snaps its bill shut.

Where and when it's recorded

Spot-billed Pelican has been recorded at 200 of the 8,171 birding hotspots we track, in 10 countries and regions.

Records by month Northern Hemisphere

To protect this bird from disturbance, we don't list exact sites.

Countries and regions with the most records

India Sri Lanka Cambodia Thailand Myanmar (Burma)Nepal Vietnam Singapore

eBird records via GBIF up to 2024-12-31. A record means someone listed it; more records partly mean more birders, not more birds.

About

The spot-billed pelican (Pelecanus philippensis) or gray pelican is a member of the pelican family. It breeds in southern Asia from southern Iran across India east to Indonesia. It is a bird of large inland and coastal waters, especially large lakes.

Excerpt from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0 · authors · Read more on Wikipedia

Questions

How big is the Spot-billed Pelican?

The Spot-billed Pelican is about 125–152 cm long, with a wingspan of 230 cm and weighs around 5 kg.

Where does the Spot-billed Pelican live?

Its breeding range: Oriental: inland southeastern India, Sri Lanka, Cambodia and (?) Sumatra; extinct Philippines. It is most often recorded in India, Sri Lanka and Cambodia.