Over the years, humans have developed many elaborate dating rules and behaviors depending on one’s culture. Quite similarly, there exist many different courtship rituals among birds. While some of these are spectacular and graceful, others are plain awkward. Some birds use homosexual coupling to attract females, while others just moonwalk their way into the ladies heart. Here we have brought you the stories of ten birds with unusual courtship rituals.
1. Great Bustards
During the courtship period, female great bustards inspect the male’s rear end. That’s why male great bustards consume a daredevil diet of poisonous beetles to clean their gut and appear healthy and sexy.
The great bustard is a bird in the bustard family found in southern and central Europe and across Asia. They mate on a patch of ground called a “lek.” The males gather on the lek and take turns trying to woo the females. To impress the females, they inflate two bare patches of skin on the neck. Also, they contort their bodies to reveal bright, white feathers on their chest and along their hind part. But what the female actually looks at is the male’s cloaca. The cloaca is an all-purpose hole that serves reproductive, urinary, and intestinal functions. The female tries to see if there is any sign of nematodes or tapeworms peeking out of cloaca or the presence of bacteria-induced diarrhea. She determines the health of the male by assessing the cleanliness of his rear end. The females are also known to peck the area repeatedly just to be sure.
Keeping their gut clean is the ultimate priority of the male so that they can attract a mate during the breeding season. So, they consume a diet of toxic blister beetles. The poison in the beetles drive out the parasites and bacteria. Both male and female consume this poisonous beetle, but the male bustard consumes substantially more beetles than the female. This diet also increases sexual arousal in male.(source)
2. Superb Lyrebird
Male lyrebird sings four different types of song matching each with a unique dance to impress the female.
The superb lyrebird is an Australian songbird and is one of the largest songbirds in the world. It is noted for its elaborate tail and excellent mimicry. The male lyrebird is also well known for its mating dance and song routine. During breeding season, the female visits several different males to watch their song-and-dance routines and then chooses her partner. So, the male lyrebird practices their skill for years before reaching maturity.
During the breeding season, the male lyrebird tries to attract the female with their tail feather. Once noticed, he will treat her with a repertoire of sounds and dance routine. Male lyrebirds sing four different song types, matching each with a unique set of dance movements. It has been noticed that even after years of practice, lyrebird can make mistakes in their dancing. This suggests that dancing is challenging for the birds, just as it is for us humans.(1,2)
Flamingos apply “makeup” during the breeding time to appear more pinkish and hence more attractive. They also perform an elaborate group dance until the female chooses her mate.
Flamingos are highly social animals that live in huge colonies often consisting of thousands of birds. During the mating period, they break into a group of tens to hundreds of individuals and perform elaborate group dances. When a female is ready to mate, she will walk away from the dancing group, and her chosen male will follow close behind.
Plumage color is likely a factor that contributes to mate choice. So, the brighter the pink color of the flamingo the greater is it’s chance to find a mate. To improve the color of their plumage, flamingos use an oil produced in glands near their tail. The birds daub this oil onto their feathers with their beaks, and this action is often referred to as applying “make-up.”(1,2,3)
The male ruff engages in homosexual copulation to attract the females. When females visit the mating site, some males disguised as females sneak around and quickly mounts the excited females, while other males perform elaborate displays to attract the members of opposite sex.
The ruff is a long-necked, pot-bellied bird bearing a prominent breeding plumage of a large collar of ornamental feathers. The name of the bird is inspired from this beautiful plumage. During the breeding season, the males display at a lek. The display is primarily directed at other males rather than to the females.
There are three male forms of ruff: territorial males, satellite males. and a very rare third male variant, “faeder,” with female-like plumage. The territorial males have a mating territory and actively court females. Satellite males do not occupy any territory but will enter a lek and attempt to sneakily mate with any female visiting the site. The third type of male, faeder, resorts to homosexual copulation with independent or satellite males which attract the female to the lek. Once the females start to visit the lek, the feader, having female-like plumage, approaches them easily and copulates.(source)
5. Red-capped Manakin
Male red-capped manakin “moonwalks” across a branch to attract the ladies.
The word “moonwalk” immediately brings the image of Michael Jackson moonwalking across the stage. There is one other creature who uses a moonwalk to impress the ladies. It is the red-capped manakin. The male red-capped manakin uses it as a courting method. It shuffles rapidly backward across a branch, akin to a speedy moonwalk, to catch a female’s eye.(1,2)
Male bowerbirds use interior decoration to attract the females by making shrine-like structures using grass and sticks and then decorating it with various colored objects.
Bowerbirds are well known for their unique courtship behavior. The male of this species builds a structure called a “bower.” Then he collects various colored objects and painstakingly arranges them around the bower. The color of the objects can be blue, white, black, to other colors. This decoration is done in order to catch the attention of the female.
7. Great Crested Grebes
Great crested grebes perform a water ballet and then dive deep and bring each other a gift of weeds to seal the relationship.
The ballet of great crested grebes is one of the best courting dance among the birds. The mating season of these birds starts in the spring. During this time and while floating on a lake, male gerbes will send out a mating call. When it receives a reply, it will dive and resurface near the one who answered its call. It will rear up out of the water almost to its belly and will hold the posture for a few moment and declare itself.
If the other gerbe opens its wings and frills on its cheek, then the partnership is established. The next part will be their water ballet when both the male and female faces each other shaking their head from side to side. Finally, both of them will dive deep and resurface with weeds in their bills. They would rush towards and meet breast-to-breast and show off their water weeds with sideways shake of the head.(1,2)
8. Club-winged Manakin
To attract the females, this bird creates its own acoustic violin by shaking its wings at over 100 times each second.
The club-winged manakin has a fascinating feature. It has modified wing feathers that enable the bird to create a “song” with its wings. To produce the sound, the club-winged manakin rakes the ridged, club-shaped feathers across each other. It creates a series of buzzing and snapping sounds. During courtship, the male club-winged manakin raises its wings over its back and shakes them back and forth with more than 100 shakes per second. This produces a loud, violin-like tone which attracts the female.(1,2)
9. Sage Grouse
The male sage grouses gather on a lek, fan their tail feathers, and pop the air sac on their breast to attract the females.
The greater sage-grouse is a threatened bird of North America. It is well known for its unusual mating rituals. During the spring season, the male sage-grouses gather on a traditional display ground called the lek. Dozens of males strut and fan their pointed tail feathers. Then they pop the yellow air sacs on their breasts to create a “wup” sound that can be heard two miles away. The courtship display begins around the dawn and continues for three to four hours. A single male may mate with 20 females in one morning.(source)
10. Wilson’s Bird of Paradise
The male Wilson’s bird of paradise tidies up a patch of forest floor so that his luminous feathers stand out and attract females.
The Wilson’s bird of paradise is one of the most vibrant and colorful birds. The extravagant plumes and feathers lead to a colorful courtship dance. The males clear an area of rain forest to create a “display court.” Dressed in an elaborate cape of vermillion with a turquoise skull cap, the male proceeds to performs a vivid and complex dance along with song and calls. The female sits in an elevated position directly above the male and critiques his concert.(1,2)