Posted by Dennis Plank on April 21, 2010 at 12:25 AM
We have had a trio of Northern Flickers performing courtship antics around our property the last few weeks. At first we were puzzled by the interactions of two females with one male, but a little research revealed that it is rather common in this species. An interesting sidelight to this is that one reference states that unusually large clutches may be the product of two females, though I haven't been able to find any reference that says a trio has been observed parenting the young.
A nice description of the courtship is quoted from Francis H. Allen in Bent's "Life Histories of North American Birds" as follows: "The courtship of the flicker is an elaborate and somewhat puzzling performance. Two birds face each other on the branch of a tree or cling side by side,m though at a little distance apart, on the trunk and spread their tails and jerk their heads about in a sort of weaving motion, frequently uttering a note that is peculiar to this performance, a wick-up or week-up. The head motion is a series of backward jerks with the bill pointing up at an angle of perhaps 60 degrees and the head at the same time swinging side to side. Sometimes a short, low wuck is uttered from time to time during the performance. These bouts occur not only between male and female, but frequently between two males or two females."
In our case there is a single male and two females involved in the dances, with the females doing most of the action. The three images below are from the only series I've been able to photograph very closely. They do seem to be centering their activities around this nest box, which is an old "kestrel" box that was never successful for it's intended function and that we relocated this winter.
As an aside, in trying to locate articles on Flicker courtship, I ran across a wonderful source of avian journal articles (most of them older). If you're interested, check out http://elibrary.unm.edu/sora/
Cheers!
Posted by Dennis Plank on April 21, 2010 at 12:26 AM
And number 2.
Posted by Dennis Plank on April 21, 2010 at 12:28 AM
Number 3-when the male decides to step in. Interestingly, after a few seconds, the male followed the female that left.
Posted by Nate Chappell on April 21, 2010 at 12:29 AM
Neat captures and thanks for sharing the info Dennis, it was just a couple of days ago that I was photographing 2 females doing this with no males around and I thought it was quite odd.
Discussion
9 repliesA nice description of the courtship is quoted from Francis H. Allen in Bent's "Life Histories of North American Birds" as follows: "The courtship of the flicker is an elaborate and somewhat puzzling performance. Two birds face each other on the branch of a tree or cling side by side,m though at a little distance apart, on the trunk and spread their tails and jerk their heads about in a sort of weaving motion, frequently uttering a note that is peculiar to this performance, a wick-up or week-up. The head motion is a series of backward jerks with the bill pointing up at an angle of perhaps 60 degrees and the head at the same time swinging side to side. Sometimes a short, low wuck is uttered from time to time during the performance. These bouts occur not only between male and female, but frequently between two males or two females."
In our case there is a single male and two females involved in the dances, with the females doing most of the action. The three images below are from the only series I've been able to photograph very closely. They do seem to be centering their activities around this nest box, which is an old "kestrel" box that was never successful for it's intended function and that we relocated this winter.
As an aside, in trying to locate articles on Flicker courtship, I ran across a wonderful source of avian journal articles (most of them older). If you're interested, check out http://elibrary.unm.edu/sora/
Cheers!
Have never seen this, so thanks for posting this interesting behavior!
Sandy r