Brown pelicans have a long bill, extensible gular pouch, and all four toes joined by extensive webbing. During their first year, brown pelican are brown with a white belly. Over the next few years they attain adult characteristics. In adults, the upperparts are gray to gray-brown, the belly is black-brown, and the remainder of the undersurface is striped black and silver. The head and neck coloration of adults varies seasonally. The head is pale yellow and the neck is white during the postbreeding season. The head is yellow and neck is dark brown just before breeding. The head is white (sometimes speckled with dark feathers) and neck is brown when birds are nesting. Wingspan is about 79 inches (2 meters).<br><br>Size varies greatly depending on location, with the smallest individuals in the West Indies, medium birds on the coasts of the U.S. (Atlantic and Gulf), Central America, and Colombia and Ecuador, large birds on the coasts of California, Mexico, and Galapagos Islands, and very large in Peru and Chile (NGS 1983, Palmer 1962).