Pelecanus erythrorhynchos is a species of pelican birds commonly known as American white pelicans. They are found in Nothern America. They usually migrate during winter. The white pelicans copulate and reproduce on islands in lakes or near small water bodies, usually fresh water. Incidentally, reproductive seasons occur during winter, when they have migrated from their traditional habitats to other places often in inland water bodies. White pelicans are huge and their external feathers are often black. Their beaks and the pouch are reddish in colour or yellowish, and their legs are coloured ranging from yellow to orange. They have a bulge on the top beak. The white pelicans are bigger than the brown pelicans, and males are a bit bigger than the females. White pelicans are usually monogamous, and during the mating season they pair up, and create territorial boundaries which the group or colony guards. The pairs are made up when they reach the mating and breeding territory, and there are intricate ritual-like behaviours that the pelicans undertake as a form of courtship. Some of the behaviours include flying in circular motions, walking in corresponding lines in a swaggering manner, turning and bowing their heads. The couples stick together throughout the breeding season, and both the male and female take turns in caring for the nest, the eggs and the chicks after they have been hatched. However, it is not clear whether the same couples regroup in the subsequent mating seasons, but this is highly unlikely.

Soon after the majority of the white pelicans have reached the designated mating area, they immediately pair up and mating begins. After formation of pairs, each pair identifies a simple nest in form of a scratch on the ground. This process of creating nests may last up to one week. Thereafter, these nests are marked as territories, which they pelicans guard and defend throughout then period. This process is quite dramatic and occurs simultaneously within the whole group. Usually, the grounds upon which the nests are established are on uncovered ground, but there could be growths of shrubs, some grass and small vegetation. Every season, the white pelicans produce a single offspring, although the eggs laid are about three. The eggs are whit in colour and usually the number laid is two. In case one egg is lost, it cannot be replaced, and if by chance both eggs are lost, the male and female pelicans desert the nest. Incubation of the eggs is done by both the male and female and they achieve this by laying their feet on top of the eggs for about four weeks. After the eggs have hatched, the chicks continue to be slept on for an additional seventeen days or so. The young white pelicans are fed by their parents by bringing up partially digested food from their stomachs, into their mouth. This care lasts for two to three months, before the young pelican can become independent. White pelicans become sexually mature at the age of three years.