Field record
Spot-billed Pelican
Pelecanus philippensis
A long wait on the water for one clean frame: a pelican coming in to land, wings and feet spread, the moment before it touched down.
- Location
- Ranganathittu Bird Sanctuary
- Coordinates
- 12.42° N · 76.65° E
Field guideNear Threatened
A colonial nester, it builds stick platforms in low trees, frequently sharing breeding colonies with painted storks and other waterbirds.
- Family
- Pelecanidae (pelicans)
- Length
- 125–152 cm
- Wingspan
- 213–250 cm
- Diet
- Fish
- Range
- Resident in southern Asia from India and Sri Lanka to Southeast Asia; declined across much of its former range