Spot-billed Pelican

A large pale waterbird with a hefty pinkish pouched bill marked with diagnostic dark spots on the upper mandible. The head is grizzled with a hint of a shaggy crest and the back of the neck is dark. Rings of bare skin around each eye that make this bird look like it's wearing glasses. In breeding plumage, the rump, sides, and underwing coverts are salmon pink and the breast ochre yellow. Often seen in large lakes and estuaries fishing in groups. Nests in noisy colonies in trees bleached by droppings.

The spot-billed pelican inhabits wetlands in Sri Lanka, including man-made tanks and natural areas. They are found in the Central and North Central provinces.

In Sri Lanka, the spot-billed pelican primarily feeds on fish as its main dietary component, occasionally supplemented by small aquatic crustaceans, amphibians, and small reptiles, all caught using their expandable bill pouch while swimming on the water surface; essentially making them piscivorous predators.