Everything about the Dalmatian pelican is big. Its beak is enormous — up to 45 centimetres long — and underneath it hangs a stretchy pouch that can hold three times as much as its own stomach. When it dives its beak into the water to scoop up fish, the pouch expands like a net, trapping a whole school of small fish at once.
Dalmatian pelicans have curly, silvery-white plumage and bright orange-red pouches. In the breeding season the males' pouches and the patch around their eyes turn vivid orange and red to impress the females. They nest on floating reed islands in the middle of lakes, safe from most land predators.
Pelicans are sociable birds and often fish cooperatively. A line of pelicans will swim together in a crescent shape, herding fish into shallow water where they are easy to scoop up. Then they all dip their beaks in together. It is one of the most organised fishing strategies in the bird world.
The Dalmatian pelican is rare — there are only a few thousand left on Earth. Conservation efforts in Bulgaria, including protecting wetland habitats and reducing disturbance near nesting colonies, have helped keep the Bulgarian population stable. Birdwatchers travel from all over Europe to see them on Lake Srebarna, a UNESCO World Heritage site near the Danube.