Smallest pelican

The world's smallest species of pelican is the brown pelican Pelecanus occidentalis, which in the adult form can measure as little as 1.03 m long, exhibit a wingspan as short as 1.83 m and weigh as little as 2.75 kg. It is native to North America, the Caribbean, Central America, northern South America and the Galápagos, and is distinguished from most other pelican species by its chocolate-brown plumage.

The brown pelican exists in five subspecies, but a former sixth, the Peruvian pelican, is nowadays considered sufficiently distinct from the others to warrant classification as a species in its own right, and is named P. thagus. It is readily distinguished by its much greater size, weighing around twice as much as the brown pelican, as well as by plumage and beak colour differences. Moreover, despite exhibiting considerable distribution overlap with the brown pelican, it does not hybridise with the latter.