Long-term monitoring by the Nature Trust shows that Pallikaranai Marsh in Chennai now hosts Spot-billed Pelicans throughout the year. The species, Pelecanus philippensis, is listed as Near Threatened (NT) on the IUCN Red List. For Tamil Nadu, the State of India's Birds report places it among wetland species whose current annual trend is a rapid decline. Also known as the Grey Pelican, the bird belongs to the family Pelecanidae and the order Pelecaniformes. It is found mostly in freshwater lakes, reservoirs, rivers, coastal wetlands and estuaries.
