Males of many species, such as these cardinals, start the courting process by feeding the females.
Although I most often see them on the top of our grape arbor, these mourning doves were perching on one of our lawn chairs.
Black capped chickadees mating
These brown-headed nuthatches spent a lot of time digging this nest cavity in our daughter’s North Carolina yard — even though she had provided a nest box for them just 20 feet away! [Since this species is a species of concern in NC, the local Audubon offered these boxes.]
Cedar waxwings
This female house sparrow seemed unimpressed by the prancing of the male.
We’d be thrilled if this non-native invasive species never mated!
This flicker is getting ready to produce as much sound as possible to attract a mate. Here he’s taking a break from his pounding on the metal chimney cap. Indeed very loud!
The male house wren creates a number of rudimentary nests in the yard for the female to inspect. Once she chooses one, she gets busy building a proper nest!
Resources
- Audubon:
- Cornell Lab of Ornithology:
- Science of seduction: How songs, dances, and displays help animals win their mates – a recorded webinar (2022)
- Lesley the Bird Nerd:
- Nature Conservancy’s Cool Green Science:
- Why do flickers knock on your house? (and how to protect your house and still enjoy flickers)
- Bird Watcher’s General Store: