When I am out birding I see things I don’t expect to see but when it is springtime, sex is a likely behaviour that you may chance upon. Mostly, I see the birds displaying for each other. Each type of bird does it in a different way with fighting between males a common occurrence. Females are often “chased” around by numerous males until they supposedly decide which one(s) they select. Some birds pair up and help bring up the young. Some females go off on their own to lay the eggs and raise the young. Very rarely, the males incubate and raise the young (cue the Red-necked Phalarope, https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Red-necked_Phalarope/lifehistory ).
Yesterday I was scanning the trees for Northern Flickers (a type of woodpecker) at one of my favourite spots along the Lesser Slave River. They were sitting on branches in a dead tree, a male above, female in a lower branch with a European Starling close by. The Flickers were quiet, it was early morning (6 am) and their tail feathers were spread and up. Before I knew it, the male flew down, while the female moved along the branch. As long as it took me to think, “they are going to have sex”, that is exactly what they did and as any typical actual sex act, it was over sooner than that thought occurred. I clicked away with my camera and got a few pics (nothing great), but enough to see the sequence of events when I downloaded.
What amazes me about all of this is how brief the act is given all the posturing, vocalizing, fighting, that goes into the lead-up for the event. Humans are very similar when you think about it.
This led me back to an article that Janine Schueller posted on her facebook page, “How Chickens Lost their Penises (and Ducks Kept Theirs)”, a National Geographic article. It was fascinating to read and it turns out, most birds have lost their penises, not because they couldn’t grow them, but because of a protein (Bmp), that we all have, that kills off cells during the growth stage of the penis, “This type of ‘programmed cell death’ occurs throughout the living world and helps to carve away unwanted body parts—for example, our hands have fingers because the cells between them die when we’re embryos.”
So how do birds have sex? Good question! Birds that don’t have penises still need to send sperm into the female to fertilize the eggs. And here is how they do that, “males and females just mush their genital openings together and he transfers sperm into her in a manoeuvre called the ‘cloacal kiss’.”
I have learned a lot this morning and all because I couldn’t look away! Happy birding everyone.
Read the full National Geographic article here: https://www.nationalgeographic.com/science/phenomena/2013/06/06/how-chickens-lost-their-penises-ducks-kept-theirs/?fbclid=IwAR1E7ZyhnUnAnqQKsdyjo73wyIo35HKMOky44AIA9R4H0O5iFX7Drfh6EeY
And to learn more about Northern Flickers (Yellow-shafted are the ones in the pictures), go here: https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Northern_Flicker/lifehistory
This is where it began, tail feathers spread, getting ready!
The Starling had the decency to look away for this part, this is the mushing together part!
Okay, me and the Starling are back to looking on, there really hasn’t been much time to look away.
The final act, the male almost falls off the female with a drooping wing, does that remind you of anyone?