Pelican | San Diego Zoo Animals & Plants

Pelicans rarely make a sound outside of their breeding colony. If displeased, they hiss through the gaping bill. Only at mealtimes or in their large breeding colonies do the pelicans become vocal, indulging in a sort of grunting sound to express their excitement. Some pelicans also clap their bill while looking up, gape, bow, and wag their head to defend territory.

Breeding colonies often consist of hundreds of these birds all crowded onto one small island. Breeding season varies among species. Brown pelicans in warmer climes may nest throughout the year. American white pelicans in colder areas nest in May and June.

At the start of the breeding season, a pelican’s bare face and pouch flush yellow, pink, or orange, depending on species and sex, and an occipital (back of the head) crest forms. American white pelicans develop a knob on the top of the bill that is shed after the breeding season. The female’s facial skin turns pastel orange, and males get a pale yellow coloring on their face.

During breeding season, both male and female pelicans use their pouch to carry nest-building materials: twigs, grass, and feathers. The nest is often a hollow in the sand with a ring of sticks and sand scraped around the outside. If located where materials are available, the nests may include weed stalks or may even be built in low bushes or mangrove trees.

The parents take turns incubating one to six bluish-white eggs, laid days apart, on the top of their feet. The eggs hatch in the order laid, and the first chick to hatch is always larger and often attacks its younger siblings to get the most food. Chicks hatch with eyes shut and have a stubby bill and bare, pink skin. Within a few days, their eyes open, they start to grow their first down feathers, and their bill lengthens.

The young are not fed from the pouch; instead, the parents open their mouth wide to allow the young to reach down into the gullet to get regurgitated food. The poor parents must feed their chicks up to 30 times a day for the first month of so! It takes a while for a young pelican to learn to use its enormous bill without getting it snagged on sharp rocks.

The chick gets its wing and tail feathers after three to four weeks. At this point, the young of ground-nesting pelicans cluster together in pods while both parents hunt. When they return, the parents are able to find their own chicks in the pod and feed them. Chicks fledge in 70 to 85 days and join their parents for fishing and roosting. Yet it’s a dangerous world for the youngsters, and most do not survive their first year, due largely to predation by birds of prey.