Pelecanus philippensis
Silhouette: Oscar G. Miranda · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~20% in a week ~50%
The spot-billed pelican (Pelecanus philippensis) or gray pelican is a member of the pelican family. It breeds in southern Asia from southern Iran across India east to Indonesia. It is a bird of large inland and coastal waters, especially large lakes. At a distance they are difficult to differentiate from other pelicans in the region although it is smaller but at close range the spots on the upper mandible, the lack of bright colours and the greyer plumage are distinctive. In some areas these birds nest in large colonies close to human habitations.
The spot-billed pelican was formally described in 1789 by the German naturalist Johann Friedrich Gmelin in his revised and expanded edition of Carl Linnaeus's Systema Naturae. He placed it with the other pelicans in the genus Pelecanus and coined the binomial name Pelecanus philippensis. Gmelin based his description on "Le pélican des Philippines" that had been described and illustrated in 1760 by the French zoologist Mathurin Jacques Brisson. Brisson's specimen had been collected on the island of Luzon in the Philippines. The species is monotypic: no subspecies are recognised.
The spot-billed pelican is a... Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kaziranga National Park | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 2 | Yala National Park | 🇱🇰 Sri Lanka | |
| 3 | Udawalawe National Park | 🇱🇰 Sri Lanka | |
| 4 | Wilpattu National Park | 🇱🇰 Sri Lanka | |
| 5 | Minneriya National Park | 🇱🇰 Sri Lanka | |
| 6 | Manas National Park | 🇮🇳 India |
| # | City | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Chennai | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 2 | Colombo [Sri Jayawardenepura Kotte] | 🇱🇰 Sri Lanka | |
| 3 | Mysuru | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 4 | Coimbatore | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 5 | Tiruppur | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 6 | Bengaluru | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 7 | Hyderabad | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 8 | Kochi | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 9 | Tiruchirappalli | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 10 | Madurai | 🇮🇳 India |
| # | Zoo / Centre | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Zlín-Lešná Zoo | 🇨🇿 Czechia | |
| 2 | Parc des oiseaux | 🇫🇷 France | |
| 3 | Nandankanan Zoological Park | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 4 | Arignar Anna Zoological Park | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 5 | Sri Venkateswara Zoological Park | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 6 | Khao Kheow Open Zoo | 🇹🇭 Thailand | |
| 7 | Planète Sauvage | 🇫🇷 France | |
| 8 | Safari World | 🇹🇭 Thailand | |
| 9 | Bannerghatta Zoo | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 10 | Gembira Loka Zoo | 🇮🇩 Indonesia | |
| 11 | Saigon Zoo and Botanical Gardens | 🇻🇳 Vietnam | |
| 12 | Thiruvananthapuram Zoo | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 13 | Children's Park, Guindy | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 14 | Amirthi Zoological Park | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 15 | Bioparc Fuengirola | 🇪🇸 Spain | |
| 16 | Farm in the City | 🇲🇾 Malaysia | |
| 17 | Johor Zoo | 🇲🇾 Malaysia | |
| 18 | Bird Park | 🇷🇺 Russia | |
| 19 | Mořský svět | 🇨🇿 Czechia | |
| 20 | Singapore Miniature Zoo | 🇸🇬 Singapore | |
| 21 | Svět medúz | 🇨🇿 Czechia |
With luck
About 10% of wildlife watchers report a Grey Pelican sighting in Hyderabad on a given day, based on 274 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data. It is the 73rd most-seen of the 194 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 20%, and over a week to about 50%, if each day is a fresh chance.
January
In that month about 20% of wildlife watchers report a Grey Pelican in Hyderabad on a given day, against under 5% in April, the lowest month. That is one of Hyderabad's driest months, with about 5 mm of rain against 190 mm in August.
Between 3 and 6 am
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Grey Pelican sightings with a recorded time, and about 6 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is most active around dawn and dusk.
7th of 13
Of the 13 cities where we can rate Grey Pelican sightings, Hyderabad ranks 7th at about 10%. The best odds are in Chennai (India, about 40%), Colombo [Sri Jayawardenepura Kotte] (Sri Lanka, about 30%) and Mysuru (India, about 20%).
Same order: Pelecaniformes
The closest relatives of the Grey Pelican that you can see in Hyderabad (order Pelecaniformes, Pelicans, Herons, Ibises, and Allies) are Indian Pond Heron (about 40%), Little Egret (about 30%) and Grey Heron (about 30%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Grey Pelican is recorded against all the birds logged in Hyderabad (274 verified sightings), calibrated against known sighting rates. Figures are rounded to the nearest 10% because citizen-science data supports honest approximations, not decimals, and months with records from fewer than five people show "—". How it works.
