Brown Pelican - national bird of barbados
The national bird of Barbados is the brown pelican . The scientific name of Brown Pelican is Pelecanus occidentalis. Basically, it is a North American bird one of the three species of pelicans found in which only two species feed by in water. Brown Pelican belongs to the Pelican family Pelecanidae. It is a very huge and stocky seabird which feeds by diving in water in the sea. Brown Pelican is the smallest species in all known 8 species of the pelican but apart that it is still one of the larger seabirds. The length of the adult pelican is 1 to 1.52 meters and has a wingspan of 2.03 to 2.48 meters. The average weight of the brown pelican is about 3.5 kg but it varies in the range of 2-5kg. Brown pelican is a piscivore (piscivore only feed on fish) & feed by plunging in the water, the main fish which accounts for 90% of its diet is menhaden. The other fish it feeds on are mainly anchovy, sheepshead, silversides, minnows, pigfish, pinfish, herring, mullets