The Great White Pelican, Pelecanus onocrotalus, is widely distributed in eastern Europe, Asia and Africa. Crivelli and Schreiber ( 1984) distinguished two geographically separate populations of this species : one in eastern Europe and Asia and the other in Africa. They have estimated the European-Asian population to be around 15 000-20 000 pairs and they noted that the numbers of this species have decreased sharply since the beginning of this century. On the contrary, the African population remains stable with a breeding population around 75 000 pairs, although sorne changes have occurred in the distribution of the breeding colonies.Since 1984, The European-Asian population seems to have recovered, although sorne breeding colonies have disappeared (e.g. in Turkey) or their size has decreased (e.g. in Greece). However, the detailed information on the population trends and the biology of the Great White Pelican nesting in the Palearctic, which is necessary for effective conservation and management measu res, is practically non-existent.Studies on the breeding biology, the fe eding ecology and movements of the Great White Pelican have only been carried out in Africa (e.g. Brown and Urban, 1969 ;Berry et al., 1973 ;Guillet and Crowe, 1983). These studies only deal with sedentary or nomadic populations living under tropical climatic conditions. None of these populations are migratory. In contrast, the European-Asian population of Pelecanus onocrotalus is truly migratory, visiting the Palaearctic only in Spring and Summer, during the breeding season. This population has not been adequa tely studied up to now (Dementiev and Gladkov, 1951 ; Bauer and Glutz von Blotzheim, 1966 ;Cramp et al., 1977). Although studies on the breeding biology and the feeding ecology have recently been carried out in north-western Greece (Hatzilacos, 1986 ; unpubl. data ; Crivelli and Catsadorakis, unpubl. data), little is known about the migra tory movements of the Great White Pelican population nesting in the Palearctic and its behaviour outside the breeding season.
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