Seabird order
Pelecaniformes
Pelicans
Of this diverse order, only the pelicans are true seabirds. Their giant throat pouches make them one of the most recognizable birds on any coast.
What the order includes
As currently defined, Pelecaniformes includes pelicans, the shoebill and hamerkop, herons, and ibises and spoonbills. Birds once placed here, such as cormorants, gannets, frigatebirds and tropicbirds, now belong to other orders.
Pelicans at sea
Most pelicans live on lakes, rivers and coasts. The brown pelican of the Americas is the most marine. It plunge-dives from the air to scoop fish into its pouch. Other species often fish cooperatively, herding fish into shallow water.
A conservation success
Brown pelican populations crashed in the mid-1900s when the pesticide DDT thinned their eggshells. After DDT was banned in the United States in 1972, they recovered well enough to be removed from the US endangered species list in 2009.
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