Editing Pelican (section)

===Breeding and lifespan===
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| image1 = Spot-billed Pelican (Pelecanus philippensis) at nest with chicks in Uppalpadu W IMG 2663.jpg
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| caption1 = A [[spot-billed pelican]] nesting colony at [[Uppalapadu]], India: This species builds nests in trees.

| image2 = Spot-billed Pelican (Pelecanus philippensis) feeding a juvenile in Garapadu, AP W IMG 5362.jpg
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| caption2 = A spot-billed pelican feeding a juvenile in a nest in a tree at [[Garapadu]], India

| image3 = Pelecanus conspicillatus -Brisbane Water, Broken Bay, New South Wales, Australia -colony-8.jpg
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| caption3 = A nesting colony of [[Australian pelican]]s on the coast of [[New South Wales]], Australia.

| image4 = Pelikane vor Dauphin Island (USA).jpg
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| caption4 = Pelicans at [[Dauphin Island, Alabama]], United States

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Pelicans are [[wikt:gregarious|gregarious]] and nest colonially. Pairs are monogamous for a single season, but the pair bond extends only to the nesting area; mates are independent away from the nest. The ground-nesting (white) species have a complex communal courtship involving a group of males chasing a single female in the air, on land, or in the water while pointing, gaping, and thrusting their bills at each other. They can finish the process in a day. The tree-nesting species have a simpler process in which perched males advertise for females.<ref name=NSS/> The location of the breeding colony is constrained by the availability of an ample supply of fish to eat, although pelicans can use thermals to soar and commute for hundreds of kilometres daily to fetch food.<ref name=enc/>

The Australian pelican has two reproductive strategies depending on the local degree of environmental predictability. Colonies of tens or hundreds, rarely thousands, of birds breed regularly on small coastal and subcoastal islands where food is seasonally or permanently available. In arid inland Australia, especially in the endorheic [[Lake Eyre basin]], pelicans breed opportunistically in very large numbers of up to 50,000 pairs, when irregular major floods, which may be many years apart, fill ephemeral [[salt lake]]s and provide large amounts of food for several months before drying out again.<ref name="ag">{{cite web |url=http://www.australiangeographic.com.au/journal/pelicans-in-australia.htm |title=Mysteries of the Australian pelican |access-date=18 June 2012 |first=Julian |last=Reid |publisher=Australian Geographic |date=28 April 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120614181957/http://www.australiangeographic.com.au/journal/pelicans-in-australia.htm |archive-date=14 June 2012 |url-status=dead}}</ref>

In all species, copulation takes place at the nest site; it begins shortly after pairing and continues for three to ten days before egg-laying. The male brings the nesting material, in ground-nesting species (which may not build a nest) sometimes in the pouch, and in tree-nesting species crosswise in the bill. The female then heaps the material up to form a simple structure.<ref name=NSS/>

The eggs are oval, white, and coarsely textured.<ref name=hanzab1a/> All species normally lay at least two eggs; the usual clutch size is one to three, rarely up to six.<ref name=hanzab1a/> Both sexes incubate with the eggs on top of or below the feet; they may display when changing shifts. Incubation takes 30–36 days;<ref name=hanzab1a/> hatching success for undisturbed pairs can be as high as 95%, but because of sibling competition or [[siblicide]], in the wild, usually all but one nestling dies within the first few weeks (later in the pink-backed and spot-billed species). Both parents feed their young. Small chicks are fed by [[regurgitation (digestion)|regurgitation]]; after about a week, they are able to put their heads into their parents' pouches and feed themselves.<ref name="DofB">{{cite book| editor = Campbell, Bruce| editor2 =  Lack, Elizabeth| title = A Dictionary of Birds| year = 1985| publisher = Poyser| location = Calton, United Kingdom| isbn = 0-85661-039-9| page = 443 }}</ref> Sometimes before, but especially after being fed the pelican chick may seem to "throw a tantrum" by loudly vocalizing and dragging itself around in a circle by one wing and leg, striking its head on the ground or anything nearby and the tantrums sometimes end in what looks like a [[seizure]] that results in the chick falling briefly unconscious; the reason is not clearly known, but a common belief is that it is to draw attention to itself and away from any siblings who are waiting to be fed.<ref name=NSS/>

Parents of ground-nesting species sometimes drag older young around roughly by the head before feeding them. From about 25 days old,<ref name=hanzab1a/> the young of these species gather in "pods" or "[[Crèche (zoology)|crèches]]" of up to 100 birds in which parents recognise and feed only their own offspring. By six to eight weeks, they wander around, occasionally swimming, and may practise communal feeding.<ref name=NSS/> Young of all species [[fledge]] ten to 12 weeks after hatching. They may remain with their parents afterwards, but are now seldom or never fed. They are mature at three or four years old.<ref name=hanzab1a/> Overall breeding success is highly variable.<ref name=NSS/> Pelicans live for 15 to 25 years in the wild, although one reached an age of 54 years in captivity.<ref name=enc/>