Copulation Location Criteria, and Span of Time Plus Where do ducks "do it"?

 
 Photo courtesy http://www.palemale.com/

Pale Male and Octavia copulate on a favored light fixture on The Essex.  No matter the mate, she often chooses that particular spot to present herself to Pale Male.

Which gets me thinking about Red-tailed Hawk criteria.  They definitely have criteria for nest building as we've discussed before.

What would be the criteria for the spots chosen for copulation?

I would think that having the hawks protected from the rear might be advantageous.  In this case by the building.

But the male would still need a route to fly to the female without any undue obstructions.

Though the female will perch at the ready in a place with a somewhat obscured view, I would  think part of the male's responsibility would be to make sure there were no intruders to which they would be vulnerable for the limited time Red-tail copulation lasts.

Digression Alert!  

"Treading", to use the archaic term,  in the avian specie we most regularly see, is rapid by mammal standards-- often less than 15 seconds. 

This makes evolutionary sense as the pair isn't at their most alert against possible attack during these interludes.  They are vulnerable during copulation.

Why is it then, in African Grey Parrots for example, copulation between pairs can last comparable periods of time to that in humans?    

What is the evolutionary advantage in lengthy copulation for some species and not in others? 

I would posit in some species it has to do with building stronger pair bonds. 

Hawks go through a lengthy courtship which tests their abilities of flight and of hunting acuity.  The coordinated moves of courtship give them time to learn the physical cues their partner displays in flight and changes in flight patterns which will be very important in coordinating defense of the nest later on.

And as only the pair holds the territory they must be ready at any given moment to hold that territory.  They can't be off spooning when a concerted attack to take over the nest site occurs. 

What characteristics do humans and African Greys have in common?  

Both species have a tendency to live near their own kind.  Therefore there are other cooperating members of the species who will be "holding the fort" while the pair is entranced with each other for lengthier periods of time?

Both species are intelligent and can talk.  Could bonding in both species be linked in some ways to finding pair synchronicity through speech and coordinated movement during lengthy copulation? 

My,  my, my.

More thoughts on that later... 

In the meantime....what about DUCKS?

Photo courtesy of Francois Portmann   Mallard Copulation
 Of course, ducks do it in the water. 
 
Amazing wildlife photographer Francois Portmann took stunning photographs of Central Park waterfowl in February. 

 Do check them out.  
You will be very glad you did.

http://www.fotoportmann.com/birds/

Donegal Browne

Sheepskin Pond Eagle's Nest, Mallard Flush, and the Buffle in Bufflehead...Maybe.

Eagle Mom gives me "the look".

By the way, Blogger has told me that it has downloaded a video onto the blog. Just where it went "on the blog" I'm not sure. That said, you'll note that the above photograph, the following photographs of the Sheepskin Pond Eagle's Nest, and the video where ever it is, are remarkably blurry. There are reasons for this. The first two reasons I understand, the third is a mystery to me and I'd like your help in discovering what it is, if you can find where the video went, that is making it look like the air is full of "waves".

THE BLUR ISSUES

1. I'm not able to walk very far or carry much at the moment so the visuals were shot from over a mile away. A distance that overreaches my equipment.

2. There was a steady 30 to 40 MPH wind blowing all day. Therefore even with the camera on a tripod the wind was swaying the tripod like a lettuce leaf.

3. This is the mystery issue. The air between me and the nest appeared to be full of something that looked like "heat waves". They weren't as it's not even warm out let alone hot. There are some anomalies about the location that I wonder may have something to do with "the waves". Marching to the east of me and continuing north to the horizon are a line of high voltage towers. I'm standing between one of those and a transformer station. Perhaps 20 steps east to the tower and 10 steps west to the transformers. Plus about three quarters of the way to the nest is a reasonably good sized body of water.



I think Dad may have just done a fly-by to the nest but I couldn't tell for sure if he did a drop-off. Mom has gotten up out of the bowl and is standing with her back to me.

She leans over and her head disappears.

Then her head goes left. Eating herself or feeding an eaglet?

Her head goes back and is obscured by her body.

Then another lean to toward the bowl.

Her head sinks deeper in the bowl.

She steps into bowl.

Remains bent over.

Head up. Partially in shadow.

Focus my way.

Head back into bowl.

Shift of position.

Focus to bowl.

Focus to me.

Leans over.

Settles in, looks over shoulder.

???

As soon as I'm packed up and beginning to walk towards the big bisected pond, the male Bald Eagle appears and flies as I walk, in the same direction. Just keeping an eye on me, I'm assuming. I'm looking at him way over there as I walk along the verge of the road which is actually a median in the middle of the pond. When WHOOSH!!! I've flushed a pair of Mallards who seem to have been about two feet from my feet.

Here's the drake. Does he have a web foot print on his chest? What is that? Also note his tail curl, while not particularly aerodynamic I'm sure the females find it remarkably sexy.

He's playing rear guard and she is going to take to the water first.

Both continue to descend.

Great look at the iridescent wing patches.

She takes to the water. But as Drakes are supposed to lead at least according to this drake...

And he has his "landing gear" in postion, paddles ready, splash, and off they go.

This is a Bufflehead. Now I've always wondered why this little bit of a waterfowl was called a Bufflehead. Today this one acted rather like a bobble head duck. She'd begin madly paddling with her feet.

Then she would begin pumping with her head. Forward, back, forward, back, reminding me of what a child does with her legs to make a swing go higher. Could that move be the buffle in Bufflehead?

Did you find the video? I didn't either. Rats!

I'll try to put it on a blog post all my itself but don't hold your breath. My internet connection speed may well be the problem.

Donegal Browne

Tuesday Miscellany

Photograph by Pat Gonzalez, as is the following email.

Donegal:

Amazing adventure today at the Botanical Garden. First up, not one but TWO large red tail hawks on the same branch. I wasn't able to get close enough to see if one of them was my pal who I've been photographing the last couple of month. I've been meaning to look at all the photos for any distinctive field marks. Anyhow, one flew off landing on a tree in the Bronx Zoo which is across the way, the other flew under the canopy of some pine trees..... WITH A BRANCH IN ITS BEAK. Should I break out the rattle and cigars in anticipation of a visit from the stork? : )

Well Pat, it's quite possible that you can anticipate natal festivities, though we have had cases in Manhattan, Charlotte and Pale Male Jr. last season are a case in point, where they brought twigs and bark to their previous nest site but never laid any eggs. They took the year off for some reason.

(By the way, big news about Charlotte and Pale Male Jr., the second post down after this one!)

Photo:Pat Gonzalez
Later, I saw my pal red-tail in the native forest. All of a sudden a HUGE raptor flew towards him with talons extended ready to pounce. At the last second, Red-tail turned his head and saw what was coming, jumping off about a second before the bird landed on the exact same branch occupied by Red-tail.


Photo:Pat Gonzalez
It was my pal great horned owl. Yikes! I guess it was safe to assume he was defending his area as he was just a few yards away from the branch where I usually see him perched.
Pat

As the photographs had been modified they no longer had the original time they were taken so I've emailed Pat asking what time of day the Great Horned Owl was out and about chasing Red-tails. Shouldn't she have been asleep?

NOW TO THE WISCONSIN REPORT--

We are now well over 48 straight hours of cold drenching rain.

The various local rivers are at or near flood and still the rain falls, incessantly, heavily. I went out to check on the Red-tail nests and the vernal ponds I've been keeping an eye on.

The second nest on County M, N2, has lost a side, and a pair of Red-tails was seen circling in the sky above the area.

N2 was not built nearly as sturdily as N1 (above) and I suspected that perhaps it was a first nest. Better to have fallen now than later. Perhaps they will build a replacement nest, learning from their first attempt, and try again.

Buffleheads in a vernal pond near Clear Lake off Hwy 59

There are a variety of water fowl: Mallards, Canvasbacks, Ring-necks, and Canada Geese. They glide, paddle, dip, and dabble around the pond's surface. They being ducks don't find the rain the least problematical.

Nor did this Sandhill Crane making her way to the marsh over the hill.

Meanwhile in the front yard on Rainbow Drive, a flock of over 200 Cedar Waxwings took turns sitting in the Willow on watch and eating the Mountain Ash berries in the adjacent tree.

The Robin and his mate sat in the lower branches of the Mountain Ash for some time watching the large flock of Cedar Waxwings. There was an intention on the Robins part but exactly what it was I'm not sure. Eventually some decision seemed to have been made and the Robins went to ground to forage.

And the rain, cold and constant, continued.

IN NYC, CITY BIRDER HAS NEWS ON BIG MAMA AND JUNIOR--

http://citybirder.blogspot.com/2009/03/hawk-update.html

And from New York Times gleaner of significant articles of interest Bill Walters, information which was suspected and has now been quantified-

SCIENCE / ENVIRONMENT March 20, 2009

One Third of U.S. Bird Species Endangered, Survey Finds

By CORNELIA DEAN

The survey found that over the last four decades, grassland birds had declined by 40 percent and birds in arid lands by 30 percent.

D.B.
P.S. If you haven't seen them yet there are news updates following this post on the Riverside Park Red-tails plus Pale Male Jr. and Charlotte, posted Tuesday.