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The Courtship of Hummingbirds
Zoe Ann Hinds
The courtship of hummingbirds is visual in nature. The male may raise his feathers edging the gorget and shake his head from side to side, all the while, making shrill noises. He also does dive displays, accompanied by various sounds made vocally or by the wing feathers. Alternatively, the male may perform a shuttle dance involving flying back and forth very quickly in arc shapes only about ten inches wide and sometimes right in front of the face of the female.
During courtship and aggressive encounters, the male Broad-billed Hummingbird will perform what is known as a pendulum display, starting by hovering about a foot from the female and then flying in repeated arcs, like a pendulum. This display will be followed by a high-pitched zinging sound. Other than this brief description, little additional information is believed to be known about this species maneuvers during courtship. This may be because this bird chooses not to perform such displays whenever humans are present or they choose secluded areas in which to perform their courtship displays.
When the nest is partially built, the male Anna’s Hummingbird performs his courtship display. First, he hovers before the female, then rises high, sometimes pausing to sing a thin, squeaky warble of a song before again diving toward her, tracing a deep arc and making a loud, explosive noise at the bottom of the dive.
In some species, the males all group together and sing to attract nearby females into their territory. The males and females have separate territories, the females for nesting purposes and the males usually to protect a source of food.
You may be surprised to learn that male and female hummingbirds do not form a pair bond. In fact, the birds only remain together for a very brief period of time during which courtship and mating occur. The female hummingbird bares the sole responsibility for building the nests and caring for the young birds once they are born. After mating, the male has no further responsibilities toward reproduction. In a sense, it could be said that the male hummingbird is an example of nature’s the equivalent of a deadbeat father! The fact that male and female hummingbirds do not form a pair bond must be nature’s way of striving to help insure that the species will continue and the population will continue to exist. This is a very good thing since there are so many people who enjoy watching hummingbirds and who would miss doing so if these amazing birds weren’t around any longer.
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