It's spring and it's time for the 'boy birds' to start their actions to attract the best female they can catch. It's all very fascinating what the 'boys' will do to show off their best side. Here is a list of things that I have learned and read over the years about some of the more interesting spring flings going on outside.
Female Grackles are attracted to male Grackles with the most bluish purple glossiness on their feathers. In a study done on Great-tailed Grackles and found that females were more attracted to the males with glossier coats and the more glossy the coat, the longer the tail.
Male herons will bring long sticks to the female heron, just let her know that he is perfectly capable of building her a safe secure home. This is usually true of other herons and egrets as well.
The male winter wren sings with 10 times the power of a crowing rooster despite his minuscule weight of just one-third of an ounce. Male wrens (Winter, House and others) also have a song to assert a territory and to defend it's territory from other males. The male wren can have up to as many as 4 or 5 nests at a time. The male will build as many as 6 nests hoping to attract females to all the nests in his territory. If he is successful in attracting the female, she might like him but not necessarily the nest and may knock the nest to the ground and build her own. All of this keeps the male wren busy during the nesting season, feeding all those females, then feeding all those babies. They will dive bomb anything that comes near their nests. I have seen cats run from wren territories.
The Ovenbird will fly 3 to 15 metres above the crown of trees then start hovering while singing a rambling song for his intended mate.
The male thrasher can have as many as 2,000 distinct songs, while many other species such as the Henslow's Sparrow have only one.
Woodpecker sing by drumming their song on dry branches or hollow logs. These songs are announcements of territory and used in courtships.
Wilson's Snipe will do an aerial courtship called 'winnowing' it circles at 300 feet in the air and dives at a speed of up to 24 miles per hour and while doing this its outer tail feathers produces a low vibrating whistle.
Male Terns will dive and bring a female tern a fish snack!
Hooded Mergansers will swim in back and forth in circles in front of the female with their hood down low, at just the right moment when he is directly in front of her he will fan up his hood just to show how pretty he is. Go to any harbour and you can watch this display right now.
North American Goldfinches match each others calls to identify their partner.
In North America it's mostly the males that we hear singing, but in the tropics some species sing in duets together, both male and female.
I will be adding to this page as I remember or find other ways in which birds are attracted to each other.
