Great White Pelicans (Pelecanus onocrotalus)

The great white pelican is the most common in Africa, and is very heavy for a flying bird (reaching weights up to 15kg).  With a wingspan of 3.5m, great white pelicans are suited to long-distance gliding once they've attained sufficient altitude.

foraging

They often fly long distances (e.g. 200km) to their feeding grounds.  Pelicans are gregarious and often group in a horseshoe formation to chase fish into the shallow waters, where they are easily caught (co-operative predation is unusual amongst birds).

breeding

The South African Red Data Book for Birds lists White Pelicans as being "rare". with approximately  2500 breeding pairs (Brooke 1984, Williams and Borello 1997).  They breed in colonies, and require areas that are safe from mammalian predators (e.g. islands on lakes or offshore islands).  There are only two areas in South Africa where the white pelicans breed - Dassen Island & St Lucia.  White pelicans have bred on Dassen Island since 1956.  The breeding females lay 2 eggs in a rudimentary nest on the ground, composed of debris.  

When the chicks hatch, the stronger one kills its sibling (known as Cainism by ornithologists, after the Old Testament event).  When old enough, the pelican chicks move into a crèche (guarded by several adult pelicans).  Chicks regognise and sprint up to their returning parents, and insert their heads into their parent's pouch to eat the regurgitated food.

Dassen Island

At Dassen Island, there are about 500 breeding pairs (Crawford et al. 1995b, C.N.C., unpub. data). Most white pelican breeding occurs on Boom Point in the northwest on the island.   White pelicans usually breed on Dassen Island from September until February, and are highly susceptible to disturbance during this period.  The size of the pelican colony has increased steadily.

From Dassen Island, the pelicans fly to the mainland to feed, but have taken to also eating the chicks of Kelp Gulls, Cape Cormorants (Phalocrocorax capensis), Crowned Comorants (Phalocrocorax coronatus), Swift Terns & African Penguins (this unneighbourly behaviour is impacting on the breeding success of these species).