Fascinating bird behavior. Check it out! For most ornithologists this display behavior would be considered courtship. In my own estimation this pride of males are demonstrating to a single female, who is probably already paired with one of them or -possibly is an all year-round nester that will have its eggs fertilized by multiple males. At any rate, in my opinion, these males are cooperative defenders of a common nesting/foraging territory that will be home to the nestlings until they are fully fledged and even then at least the males will probably stick around. This ritual display behavior is probably analogous with how these males distract nest predators, specifically serpentine ones but birds are known to mob any creature that instigates it- especially when there are several birds involved as there is safety and confidence in numbers. Subtropical birds are archetypal to temperate-adapted species so it is likely that most gaudy display behaviors have their origins in interspecific exchanges, especially between nest predators and guardians of a home range. Kermit Blackwood Thanks Kermit!
Posted on: Tue, 16 Sep 2014 00:22:30 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015