 Modern pelicans are found on all continents except Antarctica . They primarily inhabit warm regions , although breeding ranges extend to latitudes of 45 ° South ( Australian pelicans in Tasmania ) and 60 ° North ( American white pelicans in western Canada ) . Birds of inland and coastal waters , they are absent from polar regions , the deep ocean , oceanic islands ( except the Galapagos ) , and inland South America , as well as from the eastern coast of South America from the mouth of the Amazon River southwards . Subfossil bones have been recovered from as far south as New Zealand 's South Island , although their scarcity and isolated occurrence suggests that these remains may have merely been vagrants from Australia ( much as is the case today ) . 
