Welcome to the Marine Mili series, a regular column about all things marine! During this series I aim to inspire people to want to protect our oceans and all the marine life that call our oceans home. Hopefully after reading each column, you would have learnt something new including what we can do to help protect and preserve our oceans. You can follow me and my journey on my Instagram page: _marine_mili.

Did you know that there are eight different species of pelican that can be found around the world?

There is the American white pelican, the brown pelican, the pink backed pelican, the spot billed pelican, the Great white pelican, the Peruvian pelican, the Dalmatian pelican and of course the Australian pelican which is the species that calls Victoria home.

This species can be found all around Australia and is in fact the only species of pelican to inhabit Australia.

The Australian pelican is also the largest species of flying bird in Australia with a wingspan of about three metres from wingtip to wingtip.

Not only does this incredible species break the record for largest bird in the country but looking at them on a more worldwide scale, they also hold the title for longest bill of any bird species in the world. Their bill is able to grow to around 47-50 centimetres in length. This is about the same length as your average pillow.

The main source of food for this quirky species of pelican is different fish species although they are known to hunt a variety of other prey including crustaceans.

The Australian pelican is a smart hunter, able to hunt by themselves by scooping water into their bills and draining out the water once they catch a fish.

They can also hunt in groups where they will chase fish into shallow water as a group and share the meal.