ANOTHER LIFE:SPRING HAS SPRUNG on the acre, the dawn chorus is tuning up and the garden is as hormonal as a disco. Cock birds are calling to proclaim their presence, claim a territory and attract a mate. Indeed the mating rituals in the shrubbery are as intense as the gyrations on a dance-hall floor, and often similar.
Some birds congregate at the nut feeders as if around the office water cooler, casting an eye on the talent. Mates chosen, females become coy and males territorial, aggressive to interlopers and suppliant to the chosen mate.
Birds are relatively sexless until the mating season. When the days lengthen, their hormones become active, their bodies pouring out testosterone and oestrogen. Like their human counterparts, male birds with high levels of testosterone are more aggressive towards the competition and thus more likely to acquire the high-quality territories that attract females.
The species that have lower levels of the hormone, on the other hand, make better parents. You pay your money and take your pick.
Drama is part of avian courtship. Beak open, feathers fluffed and tail fanned, the cock blackbird darts at the hen, then bows. They take off into the canopy of a tree, flying slowly from branch to branch, where more exaggerated bowing takes place. Then it’s back to the ground, copulation when the female decides, and the pair is formed. Variations of these rituals are shared by other thrushes, such as the song thrush and mistle thrush.
The chat-up strategy of the cock robin is different. He stays in his territory, where, from a vantage point, he loudly serenades the garden to attract a female. A prospecting hen comes visiting, and they exchange a few bars of a song. She sits close by and he flies to her, postures aggressively, then retires and resumes singing. She follows and he moves away again, singing loudly, playing hard to get. They repeat this gavotte until she indicates acceptance. Then they drop to the ground, do a bit of feeding and quietly seal the pact.
Male colours intensify in spring. Raising their crest feathers, male blue tits flash an ultraviolet head patch to attract a female. Then the pair perform aerial flutters around each other in the courtship phase, or fly from branch to branch with fast wing beats. He brings her titbits of food to prove that he is a good provider. Rapport established, the male picks a nesting site and invites his mate to approve it.
In the great tits’ breeding territory, the male sings as he sways his head, displaying his fine black tie and white cheeks. His courtship display also includes fluttering flights and glides towards the perched female. But he has more in his repertoire of seduction: a dance. With tail fanned out, wings dropped and neck feathers raised, he hops towards the nest site, enticing the hen. Like the blue tit, he’ll also bring her food.
Finally, in an ecstasy of mutual shivering and fluffing of feathers, copulation takes place. Having made such an effort, tits remain largely monogamous.
The song of the chaffinch soon attracts a female to his territory. He sleeks his feathers, showing off with white wing flashes, and flies beneath her, crouching and turning sideways, raising a wing to show her his red flank and belly. He repeats this move while she fluffs her feathers and, apart from an occasional glance, ignores him.
Eventually he leads her on a tour of the territory. If she approves, it is she who builds the nest, with the help of some fetching and carrying by her mate.
A female house sparrow can have several males hopping around and quivering their wings, all chirping loudly, trying to catch her attention. The one with the best nest site will win her in the end.
Lastly, the dunnock (or hedge sparrow – no relation) perches on top of a hedge near a likely-looking female, whose eye he catches by flicking his wings alternately. No great drama there, but this pair can be the most promiscuous of the garden birds.
The hen chooses a territory, builds her nest and defends it against other females. The males then compete with each other to provide more defence; while they are busy fighting, the female nips out the back and has it off with another cock. By the time she gets back, her male is away trying to mate with another hen.
This mate-swapping among the dunnocks is on a scale unheard of elsewhere in the bird kingdom. But the males’ sex life has another distinction. While most small birds copulate for a second or two, in what has been called a “cloacal kiss”, the dunnock’s conjunction has been timed (by high-speed camera) at a mere tenth of a second.
Eye on nature
I saw a bumble bee in the garden in mid-February. Is this unusual?
Diana Gilbert, Goleen, Co Cork
Bumble bees will emerge early in the year on fine, sunny days, especially in a mild spell.
My cat presented me with a pygmy shrew. I gave her a lecture on the Geneva Convention. No doubt she will ignore it.
Karen McDonnell, Ballyvaughan, Co Clare
Recently we encountered a pine marten in the top of a 7.5m ash tree in a bog during a woodcock shoot in east Galway. It was 500m from the nearest forestry. What was it doing in the tree at 4pm?
John Carroll, Appian Way, Dublin 6
Most likely it was avoiding a gang with guns that interrupted its foraging.
My father-in-law has had a party of six unusual birds feeding on Nyjer seeds in his garden. They are roughly the same colour as a sparrow, but smaller and slimmer and with a vivid red marking on top of the head.
Jane Wallace, Abbeyleix, Co Laois
They sound like lesser redpolls.
Michael Viney welcomes observations at Thallabawn, Carrowniskey PO, Westport, Co Mayo, or email viney@anu.ie. Please include a postal address
Michael Viney will resume writing next week