Anguilla, Antigua and Barbuda, Aruba, Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Bermuda, Brazil, Canada, Cayman Islands, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Dominica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, French Guiana, Grenada, Guadeloupe, Guatemala, Guyana, Haiti, Honduras, Jamaica, Martinique, Mexico, Montserrat, Netherlands Antilles, Nicaragua, Panama, Peru, Puerto Rico, St Kitts and Nevis, St Lucia, St Vincent and The Grenadines, Suriname, Trinidad and Tobago, Turks and Caicos Islands, USA, Venezuela, Virgin Islands (British), Virgin Islands (U.S.).
Population
Estimated population is 300,000 (2010).
Brown Pelican (Pelecanus occidentalis) [XC131667]
by Manuel Grosselet from Pearl Islands - Panama, Panama (call)
Brown Pelican (Pelecanus occidentalis) [XC534361]
by Isain Contreras Rodr\u00edguez from L\u00e1zaro C\u00e1rdenas, Ahome, Sinaloa, Mexico (alarm call, hatchling or nestling)
Subspecies
Brown Pelican (Pelecanus occidentalis) and Peruvian Pelican (Pelecanus thagus) (Sibley and Monroe 1990, 1993) previously lumped into Pelecanus occidentalis following SACC (2005), are now considered distinct species following SACC (2007).
Subspecific status of birds on western coast of central America unclear.
The following 6 subspecies are recognised:
occidentalis Linnaeus, 1766 - Western Indies.
carolinensis Gmelin, JF, 1789 - Atlantic coasts of tropical America, from southern Carolina to Orinoco.
californicus Ridgway, 1884 - Pacific coast of America, from California to Mexico.
murphyi Wetmore, 1945 - Colombia to northern Peru.
urinator Wetmore, 1945 - Galapagos.
thagus Molina, 1782 - Pacific coast of southern Ecuador to southern Chile. Considered by some authors to be a distinct species, Peruvian Pelican (Pelecanus thagus).
BirdLife International Species Factsheet