14.11.2016
http://city.sigmalive.com/article/19699/enas-entyposiakos-rodopelekanos-sti-larnaka-vinteo
The migratory Great White Pelican, or Ροδοπελεκάνος, is the bird featured this time in a video by George Konstantinou, President of the Association for the Protection of the Natural Heritage and the Biodiversity of Cyprus.
The material was posted on his page, together with several interesting facts about this impressive pelican, which arrives in Cyprus from Africa between September and November.
As George Konstantinou mentions in his description, this particular species of pelican is the second-largest bird, in terms of pelican species, after the great albatrosses.
The total length of Great White Pelicans ranges from 140 to 180 cm, with adult males weighing between 9 and 15 kg, although some populations found in the Palearctic range between 11 and 13 kg.
Female pelicans are less bulky, with their weight ranging from 5.5 to 9 kg.
Apart from its large size, the breeding male Great White Pelican is characterised by the impressive pink coloration on the head, around the eye and extending to the base of the bill; in females, this coloration is more orange.
Its wingspan ranges from 226 to 360 cm.
Most of the world's Great White Pelican population is migratory, with relatively few resident populations in Africa and Asia. More than 50% of the European population breeds in the Danube Delta, where the birds arrive from late March to early April and depart between September and the end of November.
In George Konstantinou's video, a proud Great White Pelican can be seen resting at a location near Larnaca Airport, at the Salt Lake. This is why, at one point, an Aegean aircraft can be seen passing behind the pelican as it takes off.



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