Pink pelicans are large waterfowl of the pelican family, popularly nicknamed “baba-ptitsa”. For all its external imposing weight the birds do not weigh very much: the male in some cases – up to 15 kilograms, and the females rarely step over the threshold of 10 kilograms. Adult males can boast a long body – within 185 centimeters. The size of the wings allows the pelicans to fly in a very interesting way: the swings are rare and deep, so it seems that the bird is floating in the air. Because of the heavy beak, the pelican’s head flips back in flight.
In food, pelicans are not very selective: like many other large birds, they prefer fish. Due to a number of anatomical features, pelicans can not dive, so they catch fish by immersing their necks in water. It’s an unheard of thing, but sometimes birds catch a fish with a whole team: males beat their huge wings in the water, pushing future food to the shore of the reservoir. The daily diet of the pelican is about 1.5 kilograms of fish.
What is characteristic, the pelican is an honorable inhabitant of the Red Book of Russia. The reason for this, as often happens, is the man: spraying pesticides and destroying natural habitats for birds puts pelicans at risk of extinction.
