What to Know About the Pink-Baked Pelican in Uganda?

The Pink-Backed Pelican in Uganda is one of the Uganda Birds seen during Uganda bird-watching safaris. It is a relatively small pelican though a big bird of the pelican family, Phylum-Chordata, Kingdom-Animalia, Class-Aves, order-Pelecanidae, Genus-Pelicanus.

It is one of the smallest of the 8 pelican species but still a very large bird with a length between 125-155cm, wingspan is 2.15-2.9m, its body mass is between 4 to 7kg and its bill is between 30-38cm long.

How Does a Pink-backed Pelican in Uganda Look Like?

A pink-backed pelican is a very large bird but considered as one of the smallest among the 8-pelican species.

It has grey and white plumage and pink at the back, it has a long yellowish bill at the top and its flight feathers are dark.

The color of its legs varies from grey to yellow and they turn to red in the breeding season.

The upper wing of adults if pale or pinkish grey which contrast with the dark flight feathers.

The feet of a pink-backed pelican are webbed, and during breeding, the mature ones acquire feather columns on their head.

The young ones are similar to the adult except its upperparts which are brownish-grey instead of grey, brown rather than the grey tail and dusky grey secondary feathers.

The male pink-backed pelican is relatively larger than the female

The pink-backed pelican is the dullest and the greyest bird of the pelican family during swimming of even standing.

How Does a Pink-backed Pelican in Uganda Call and Make Sounds?

Whenever this bird is out of the colony, it is silent, is can seldom produce some few murmuring and hissing sounds.

Where Does a Pink-backed Pelican in Uganda Inhabit?

It prefers freshwater, salty lakes, mashes, and sheltered coastal waters. It is generally a rare but regular along the Kazinga channel in Uganda.

How Does a pink-backed Pelican in Uganda Feed?

The pink-backed pelican’s staple food is fish but also other food items like the small invertebrates and amphibians.

The sometimes hunt locusts in drier areas. In a day, this bird can eat up to a kilogram of food and its bill can hold up to 8 liters of water during feeding.

The pick backed pelican hunts by diving its head into water and catches fish and water by the mouth. Then it shakes its beak to remove water and swallow the fish.

They fish in groups by forming a line surrounding an area with fish, they drop their heads into water at the same time mainly to fright and confuse fish.

How Does the Pink-backed Pelican in Uganda Breed?

Frequently, the pink-backed pelican breeds at the beginning and end of a rainy season however it can breed all year round.

How Does the Pink-backed pelican in Uganda Nest?

They frequently nest in trees near water and on Sunday island, sometimes close to humans. Because they are heavy birds, the trees tend to die due to the heavy nests built with sticks on their branches.

They usually perch on sand dunes, cliffs, coral reefs, among other areas where food is in plenty. They nest in big groups from 20 to 500 pairs.

How Does the Pink-backed Pelican in Uganda Reproduce?

Females lay between 2 to 3 big oval white eggs. Both parents incubate eggs for about 30 days. At hatching, the chicks are naked but their down coat grows quickly.

Parents feed their chicks by regurgitation. Chicks plunge their heads deep into the parental throat pouch at take the regurgitated fish. The chicks reach their sexual maturity at 3-4 years.