How Birds Mate

Peacock fanning his feathers to get a females attention.

Have you ever wondered how birds mate? Well it all depends on the type of bird.There are many ways for birds to mate, and each bird uses their own unique way to find their mates.  Bower birds, peacocks, flamingos, and hummingbirds all have different ways of mating.

Bowerbirds use their houses to attract their mates. They create optical illusions with their homes. The illusion is to make the male seem more robust then he really is. Then the female decides which illusion she thinks is the best. So far the Bower birds are the only birds, scientist know of, that use illusions to attract their mates.

Peacocks mate my calling and showing off their feathers. The male peacock shakes the feathers of his tail towards the female, or just fans them out, and then makes a noise that sounds like a cat’s meow. The female responds with an arf like a dog. Peacocks most of the time have 4 to 5 mates throughout their life. There are the few that only have one special mate.

There are four different ways (positions) that flamingos use to attract a mate. The first one is Wing Salute which is when the flamingos stretch their necks out and spread their wings to show off their black feathers that are underneath their wings. The second position is the Wing & Leg Stretch: that is when flamingos stretch just one of their wings and then lifts the opposing leg in one motion. The third one is the Inverted Wing Salute: this is when flamingos bend down and stretch their necks out while they invert their wings. The last position is the Twist Preen: this is when the flamingos spin around for when they groom themselves. Now they just have to choose which one to use.

Hummingbirds use noises and wing shapes to attract their mates. They use a noise that they repeat rapidly. They fly in a U-shaped position.  They do that to showoff their aerobatic prowess. That indicates that they are strong and powerful. It also shows that they are healthy, which means they can produce offspring. After, the male does all of this the female joins in to do a courtship dance.

All in all different birds mate in different ways. Like the four different birds bowerbirds, peacocks, flamingos, and hummingbirds all had different ways to mate. Bowerbirds use their homes as optical illusions. Peacocks use their feathers. Flamingos use positions. Lastly hummingbirds use their voices.  Birds our kind of like humans, we use different approaches to finding our mates some of the same, by showing off what we are good at or by what we have.

Why do birds find mates in different ways?

Why does the birds mate the way they do? (Pick one bird.)

Do any other birds mate like this? (Pick one bird.)

5 thoughts on “How Birds Mate

  1. This blog was very informational. I did not know that there were so many different ways for birds to attract a mate. One thing i found very interesting is that not all birds do it the same and each type has a different or multiple different ways to attract. With all of the different kinds of birds out there i thought it would be interesting to look up some more ways birds attract mates. In my researching i found that one big way birds find mates is by singing. For example the Brown Thrasher can sing up to 2,000 different songs.
    http://www.birds.cornell.edu/AllAboutBirds/studying/birdsongs/whysing

  2. It all goes for their species I guess, however, the one thing I know it that males are the flashiest among birds to more attract their mates. Just like a family of birds called birds of paradise localized on New Guinea have more than twenty species to their kind. The males have some of the most colorful and unique feathers and colors in the world—and all for what? To attract their mates of course. Most of the time males will “dance” to attract the females, whom of which judge kind of harshly, and spend over half of their lives practicing. Though the females aren’t bright colored like the male birds, they are still highly regarded in their niche and the males always try to impress the females with their feathers and cleaning the area of which they dance in. It is not known that any other bird species actually look like these but most birds do try to impress the females into mating.

    http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2007/07/birds-of-paradise/holland-text

  3. Very interesting blog. It was easy and fun to read. I liked how in your last paragraph you compaired birds to humans. I also liked how you had many birds and you explained that they had different ways of mating. I had no idea there were so many ways. I think it would be fun to see a humming bird mate becasue the are so pretty and small. I found this cool video on youtube about birds mating. Most of the ways they mate in the video is by either making noises or puffing out all of their feathers. Check it out
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L54bxmZy_NE&feature=related&safety_mode=true&persist_safety_mode=1&safe=active

  4. Interesting post. There really are a lot of different “rituals” different species of birds practice. Looking into other species’ habits, I found that bald eagles have some spectacular displays of courtship. When courting midair, they will sometimes interlock talons and “cartwheel” to the ground, only separating when close to the ground. A video of this display in action, along with other information on general avian courting habits, can be found at the link below:
    http://www.birds.cornell.edu/celebration/birds/questions-about-birds/questions-about-mating-and-nesting

  5. I thought your blog was very nice. I found out that birds also can dance to attract women. http://birding.about.com/od/birdingbasics/a/courtshipbehavior.htm. Also, when I was fishing one day, there were Turkeys across the river from where I was, and I noticed that they flared out their back feathers, to attract women. I noticed that the women started to come, and the male would walk away and she would keep following her. So yes, birds do mate in many different ways. I found out that swans also have a different way of attracting the opposite sex. According to this site, http://www.ehow.com/how-does_4571152_swans-mate.html , the swans begin stretching and twisting their necks, dipping them into the water.

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