I don't think I've ever seen 'Birds do it"

[yvr girl]

Bees - yes. But not birds.

[Deja Q]

1. I used to raise finches...

They do it in the privacy of their enclosed nests.

Mind you, when one owns many pairs and one pair hears another chirping away, that gets them in the mood too. Nuttin' dirty 'bout that...

Sadly, what started as two birds ended up as 20 because they kept doing what I don't, and I couldn't afford to buy any more cages for them.

[HarukaTheTrophyWife]

2. I've seen birds "do it" plenty of times.

I used to breed parakeets and zebra finches when I was in middle school. Actually, my male parakeets were bisexual...it used to freak out my mom.

[Deja Q]

5. Many bird species will 'display feed' their close buddies

Dunno if it was sexual or social, but birds are far more socialists than humans will ever be, despite all our various religions we concoct to tell us we ought to be socialists...

[HarukaTheTrophyWife]

7. Oh yeah, this wasn't display feeding.

This was two male parakeets humping each other. It was a big flight cage with three pairs. All the males were very bonded to their females, but two of the males were also having an affair with each other.

I also had a cockateil that I bought as an unweaned baby while there were also baby parakeets around. The cockatiel bonded to one of the baby parakeets and they lived together (and eventually were given away together when I was forced to get rid of all the birds). I was handfeeding the cockatiel, but one of the male parakeets would also feed the cockatiel. Even when a cockatiel was a few years old, it would still beg for formula (and get it) if there were babies being hand-fed and that one male parakeet would always feed the cockatiel when he had some baby parakeets to take care of.

All the birds were very hand tame, so if I was in the room then their cage doors were open and they had free reign, so the parakeets and the cockatiel pretty much all peacefully co-existed. They might have visited each other's cages, but everyone knew where they slept at night.

[Guava Jelly]

3. apparently even educated fleas do it

:)

[Catbird]

4. They are very quick.

If you blink, you might miss the action.

[NewWaveChick1981]

6. I have.

Many times. My dogs bark at them when they're mating in our back yard. I also saw a film on it in biology class, so we got bird porn up close and personal. :P

[Name removed]

8. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Lisa]

9. I know one biologist who counted dozens of copulations ...

... within 15 minutes, for a pair of Common Redpolls. Each one only lasted a fraction of a second, though.

[sendero]

10. I raised pigeons...

... when I was a kid. They have very elaborate and interesting mating rituals, and then they do it.

The male hops on the female's back for about 5 seconds. Not a lot of loving going on, just lots of foreplay :)

[Deja Q]

11. Juddging by the size of their wings, anything more than 5 seconds would be

hard to do for any bird.


:spray:

[sendero]

15. True..

... their balance while perched on top of the standing female is precarious at best, and often they flap one or both wings in an attempt to not fall off :)

[ForrestGump]

12. Your best chance might be to check out the sparrows

when they seem in a furor...it can be kind of brutal, and very much polyamorous (like those darned bonobos or even -- *gasp* -- the average DU-Lounge-er!).

And mallards are (in)famous for what're essentially gang rapes of available females. Nasty.

[Lisa]

14. yes, those ducks are incorrigible!

A while ago, I ordered a batch of 6 Indian Runner ducklings for a friend. Very neat birds and quite interesting to watch. Unfortunately they all turned out to be male... and upon reaching sexual maturity, they turned their unwelcome attentions to everything in their vicinity -- the chickens, the cat, human legs. I was absolutely mortified. I figured that my friend (who had bruises on her legs the size of dollar coins, thanks to being pinched by "the boys" -- would never want to speak to me again, for foisting such a bunch of sex maniacs upon her unsuspecting family. "Mommy, why is Mr. Duck-Duck following me?" "He wants to molest you, dear!"

Luckily my friend has a good sense of humor. I managed to get some more ducklings for her this summer -- but I fear the two females in the group are going to have a difficult time of it, fending off their unwanted admirers.

[YellowRubberDuckie]

13. I've seen them.

I was actually standing my mom's store, and she was looking out the window. She was like, What are they doing!? And I started cracking up. She turned beet red. It was awesome. I still laugh thinking about.
Duckie

[XemaSab]

16. You should have been there monday...

A common moorhen jumped on my friend's foot and started mating with it.

Tears of laughter were streaming down my face.