Large greyish with pink tinge on back, rump, belly and undertail coverts. Crest on head fairly distinct breast feathers long, pointed and somewhat shaggy; remiges darker than rest of plumage. Tale gray, legs yellow. Iris dark brown, Bill grayish yellowish or pinkies with pink or orange tip pinkies pouch with yellowish stripes, facial skin grayish pink black in front of eye feet orange or yellow.

fish.

gregarious, sometimes in company with white pelicans. Forages singly, not in coordinated groups.

chicks are naked pink, later covered with white down. nest or platforms of sticks in dense colonies( up to several hundred nest( in tall trees. Usually three eggs are laid. Pale bluish white with chalky white covering. Incubation is done by both sexes. both parents feed the chicks. Only one chick survives in each brood because older chicks kill younger chicks.

coastal bays and estuaries, cell seldom, inland on larger rivers marshes and floodplains

usually silent, I'm breeding grounds various guttural notes.