Brown pelican: Where It Lives, Map & Facts

Where the brown pelican lives – recorded in 41 countries, with quick facts from Wikidata and an introduction from Wikipedia.

Scientific name	Pelecanus occidentalis
Group	Seabirds, divers & grebes
Status	Least concern (Wikidata, IUCN category label)
Found in	41 countries
Continents	North America, South America
Mass	3.7 kg (male organism, adult weight); 3.17 kg (female organism, adult weight)
Class	Bird
Order	Pelecaniformes
Family	Pelecanidae

Where does the brown pelican live?

Open-licence (CC0 / CC BY) wild records published on GBIF place the brown pelican in 41 countries and territories across North America and South America. Wikidata gives its range as: Brazil, South America.

Countries with at least a handful of records (a minimum share of the species’ records, to leave out vagrants and escapes). Records with coordinates only; captive and fossil records excluded.

How big is a brown pelican?

Wikidata records the following for the brown pelican: mass 3.7 kg (male organism, adult weight); 3.17 kg (female organism, adult weight).

Is the brown pelican endangered?

The brown pelican’s conservation status recorded in Wikidata is “Least concern” (an IUCN Red List category label). Source: Wikidata.

What kind of animal is the brown pelican?

The brown pelican (Pelecanus occidentalis) is a bird in the order Pelecaniformes and the family Pelecanidae, genus Pelecanus. (Taxonomy from Wikidata.)

About the brown pelican

The brown pelican (Pelecanus occidentalis) is a bird of the pelican family, Pelecanidae, one of three species found in the Americas and one of two that feed by diving into water. It is found on the Atlantic Coast from New Jersey to the mouth of the Amazon River, and along the Pacific Coast from British Columbia to Peru, including the Galapagos Islands. The nominate subspecies in its breeding plumage has a white head with a yellowish wash on the crown. The nape and neck are dark maroon–brown. The upper sides of the neck have white lines along the base of the gular pouch, and the lower fore neck has a pale yellowish patch. The male and female are similar, but the female is slightly smaller. The nonbreeding adult has a white head and neck. The pink skin around the eyes becomes dull and gray in the nonbreeding season. It lacks any red hue, and the pouch is strongly olivaceous ochre-tinged and the legs are olivaceous gray to blackish-gray.

Text in “About” is quoted from the Wikipedia article Brown pelican (revision 1369842920), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Changes: lead section excerpted verbatim, formatting removed. Quick facts, taxonomy and status: Wikidata Q208714 (CC0). Countries and pin: GBIF.org occurrence records (CC0 / CC BY 4.0).