The pink-backed pelican is a bird of the pelican family. It is a resident breeder in the swamps and shallow lakes of Africa, southern Arabia, and southern India; it has also apparently extirpated in Madagascar.
Description
It is a relatively small pelican, although by no means is it a small bird. Its length is from, wingspan is and body mass is from. The bill is in length. The plumage is grey and white, with a pinkishhue on the back occasionally apparent. The top of the bill is yellow and the pouch is usually greyish. Breeding adults have long feather plumes on the head. It shares its habitat with the great white pelican, which is generally larger and has white instead of greyish plumage.
The pink-backed pelican is found in a range of aquatic habitats, but prefers quiet backwaters with shallow water, avoiding steep, vegetated lake banks. It prefers for freshwater lakes, swamps, large slow-flowing rivers, and seasonal pools but also frequents reservoirs, seasonally flooded land and flood-plains near river mouths. It may occur on alkaline and saline lakes and lagoons, and can sometimes be found along the coast in bays and estuaries. The species tends to roost and breed in trees, but will also roost on sandy islands, cliffs, coral reefs and sand-dunes. Nesting trees have many nests built close together. These nests are re-used every year until the treescollapse, although the birds will normally remain in the area. The species nests colonially in trees, reeds or low bushes along waterfronts as well as on the ground on sandy islands and in mangroves. Its nest is a large heap of sticks and may be 10–50 m above the ground. The female lays two to three large whiteeggs and later the chicks feed by plunging their heads deep into the adult's pouch and taking the partially digested regurgitated fish.
Diet
Food is usually fish and amphibians, and is usually obtained by fishing in groups. Among the fish preyed upon are cichlids like Haplochromis and Tilapia.
