Backyard Update #6: Nests

My dear oldest daughter has been waiting patiently for me to finish posting all of my 
Hawaii posts so she can post hers. Of course she wrote this many weeks ago so it may be old news. But it'll be new news to you since you haven't read it yet right?
NOTE: Some of this content is for mature audiences. She talks about the 'Birds and the Bees' . Yes, very mature coming from an almost 12 year old. Of course she'll love your comments and 
You might be a winner!

Nesting Time 
by: Emily

We are now in the middle of nesting season. Nesting season is around spring and summer. Birds will mate and then raise their family. You can tell if some birds are mates or a "pair" by different mating behavior. Many males will try to attract a mate (female bird) by different behaviors.

Singing- Singing is a very common way used by Perching Birds. Sometimes the male will show off his voice to the male, or sometimes the birds will sing together in a duet.

Red Winged Blackbird displaying red wing patches and singing

The Northern Mockingbird can also sing to the female. The mockingbird that can sing the most songs will win the female.

The Northern Mockingbird will mimic other birds. If you just listen to the variety of noises he makes, you sure will get annoyed with it. It sure is noisy.


Building- Other birds may build several nests and let the female choose which one she likes. After choosing a nest, she will add feathers and other soft materials to make it warm and comfy for the nestlings.

The Wren begins placing sticks into prospective nest holes. He may build as many as twelve different nesting sites. After pairing with a mate, the male takes the female to each of the nesting sites he has begun building. The female selects the one she likes and begins to rebuild by adding soft materials to the nest before laying eggs.

 Dancing- Other birds will "dance" with each other.

Red-Crowned Crane

Bald Eagle. It may look dangerous, but it simply isn't.

Western Grebe

  
Displaying- A very common way is displaying a male's beautiful colors. Females are a little more drab to blend in to the trees when sitting on her nest. When breeding season is over, male birds may molt and change their bright colorful colors into a drab looking color just like the females because they do not need to mate at the time. Normally, the more colorful a male is, the more likely a female will choose it. If a male is colorful, he is healthier so healthier chicks will be born.

Calliope Hummingbird displaying to a female. Most of the time you won't see the vivid colors of a male hummingbird.

The Indian peafowl or as most people call it, the peacock, commonly known in this display.

What the male peafowl looks like without displaying its tail feathers.

A Frigate bird display.

Without the display, with its mate.

Feeding- Some males will find food and feed it to the female. The female wants someone who is capable of bringing food so she can raise her babies.

Northern Cardinal

Forster's Tern

Preening- Birds also preen each other.

Mourning Doves

White Necked Ravens

Finally after trying to find a mate, the hop on top of each other and pass the sperm through the male to the female. Later it will become the egg and be laid after it is fertilized.

Avocets

Mourning Doves

Great Blue Herons

Doves

Pigeons

Red-Bellied Woodpecker

Then they build the nest. I provided nesting material for the birds in my backyard and a Chestnut Backed Chickadee came.

     I've always wanted to see a hummingbird nest. Hummingbird nests are very hard to spot because they are so small and so well camouflaged. People can easily look right at a hummingbird nest and think it is just a small knot on a tree limb.
     All the work these birds do to survive. Even before they are born a predator may kill it. Once its born it may die of a predator, it wasn't well fed, it was abandoned or something else. When it becomes an adult, it must survive the winter or go on a long migration and back in spring. They are very talented birds that try to survive. Just building a nest is hard work. Feeding the babies is another story. Check out these videos of birds building nests.

Anna's Hummingbird

Weaver Bird

Great Tit

When a bird's mate dies the bird may find a new mate. It could keep feeding its chicks or abandon the nest and start all over again. Here's a story I found.

birdingcouple.blogspot.com/2011/05/bird-mourns-death-of-mate.html

A flock of Barn Swallows had stopped on a highway,  perhaps to hunt or rest.  A vehicle passed by and one of the birds was injured and unable to move from the roadway.

Here, she is, but the condition was fatal.

Her mate lingers nearby and eventually brings food to her.

On one of his return trips he finds his mate dead and seems to try to shake her awake and attend to her.

Aware that she is lost to him he seems to cry out in anguish. Every time a car passes, the bird flies off for a moment but then returns to mourn.  Shocked at her death, he tries to move her.

Eventually the photographer, concerned for the safety of the living bird, put down his camera, picked up the bird and removed it from the road. The grieving bird lingered in a nearby tree, "crying" out loud. 

No one knew how long he stood beside her and appeared to mourn...