The brown pelican has
five subspecies: (a) the Caribbean brown pelican, the nominate subspecies (occidentalis) breeds in the Lesser and Greater Antilles, the Bahamas, along the Caribbean coast of the West Indies, Colombia and Venezuela, and up to Trinadad and Tobago; (b) the California brown pelican (californicus) breeds along the coast of California and Baja California and goes as far north as British Columbia and as far south as Guatemala; (c) the Eastern brown pelican (carolinensis) breeds in the eastern U.S. from Maryland south along the Atlantic coast, along the Gulf Coast of the U.S. and down to Honduras, along both coasts of Honduras, Costa Rica and Panama, and non-breeding from southern New York to Venezuela; (d) the Pacific brown pelican (murphyi) is found from western Colombia to Ecuador and is a non-breeding visitor to northern Peru; and (e) the Galapagos brown pelican (urinator) is found only in the Galapagos Islands.
I don't find anything that differentiates the Galapagos subspecies from the other subspecies.
We saw lots of pelicans in the Galapagos. I give a smattering of photos:
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In Elizabeth Bay on Isabela Island. |
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Feeding young pelicans from its pouch at Moreno Point on Isabela Island. We had our best viewings of pelicans, by far, at Moreno Point. Lots of nesting pelicans in mangrove trees. |
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At Vicente Roca Point on Isabela Island. |
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On Santiago Island. |
The pelican feeding the teenage chicks was one of our best "National Geographic" moments. SO cool.
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