Classic bird paintings
American White Pelican painting: Audubon's plate and other classic portraits
John James Audubon painted the American White Pelican as plate 311 of The Birds of America (1827–38), an adult male in spring, under the same name. That plate, dated 1836 on its engraver's line, is the painting shown here, and a free high-resolution scan is on Audubon.org.
Updated
Audubon’s plate: plate 311, “American White Pelican”
The plate shows the bird in spring, when the bill, pouch, legs and feet turn a rich orange-red; in autumn, Audubon noted, they are pale. He was sure the American bird differed from Europe's white pelican and named it Pelecanus americanus: “I have honoured it with the name of my beloved country.”
On the island of Barataria, Louisiana, in April 1837, he hid among drifted logs for more than an hour, watching White and Brown Pelicans fish together. The White ones swam in a line against the wind and current, scooping with their bills, then flew back to where they started and did it again. As a young man in Kentucky he had seen them in great numbers on the sandbars of the Ohio.
Story: Audubon’s Ornithological Biography, vol. 4 (1838). See plate 311 free at Audubon.org.
More classic portraits, free to see
- John James Audubon, The Birds of America, octavo edition (1840–44), plate 422: “American White Pelican”. Free scan (New York Public Library Digital Collections)
About the American White Pelican
- American White Pelicans sometimes work together to drive fish into shallow water. (Source: National Audubon Society)
The oldest known wild American White Pelican lived at least 27 years and 1 month: it was banded in Minnesota in 1994 and found in Iowa in 2021. That is a record from bird banding, not a typical lifespan. (Source: USGS Bird Banding Laboratory, 2025 longevity table.) How long do wild birds live?
Buying a print?
An original plate 311 is a hand-colored sheet about 26 by 38 inches, printed in Britain in 1827–38; many prints sold today are reproductions or small 1840s octavo prints. How to tell an original from a reproduction.
In a Birdfolio, the hardcover book of your own life list, this painting sits beside the American White Pelican with the date and place you first saw one. See your own list as a book, free.