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

Isolde and Norman Do the Fire Escape, The Uncommonly Beautiful Common Milkweed and a Night Migration-Flying Before the Storm

Common Milkweed, Asclepias syriaca

Before we get to the Milkweed and all the rest, here's a last minute flash from Nara Milanich, whose fire escape hosts Isolde and Norman of Morningside Park and the St. John the Divine Cathedral Nest when the weather gets nippy and the wind blows just right.

FROM NARA--
They're baa-aaak

Isolde and Norman--our two feathered poltergeists--are back. One of them came by this weekend but we didn't notice till the morning and so it's unclear if s/he roosted for the night.

Tonight they are back roosting, just as the temperature has dipped. Both of them are perched on a railing of the fire escape, one right next to the other, literally two feet from the window (the rail extends out perpendicularly from the building facade, in between our two living room windows, so they are not directly in front of the window but to the side a bit). One is facing the window with an eye to what's going on inside, while the other sleeps soundly facing the other direction.

Last year they generally perched on separate fire escapes, especially to sleep, so this seems new. They both also seem to have more light belly feathers than I remember. Is this the hawk equivalent of parental gray hair?


Nara,

How terrific that your cold weather visitors are back! Thank you for letting me know.

They did perch further apart last year didn't they? Perhaps it has something to do with the wind direction or conceivably they've just gotten more comfortable as time has passed and the humans haven't done anything untoward.

Isolde and Norman sound like they are currently in a position taken by Pale Male and Lola during the day, most often in breeding season, when they sometimes companionably sit next to each other on the railing of the building we call Linda. That way they can watch each others back. We often used to joke that Lola was watching televison inside the apartment. But likely she was keeping an eye on the inhabitants as well as using the reflection of the window for a back view as well.

Pale Male and Lola most often seem to roost for the night in separate trees though in sight of each other. Every once and a while we'll discover them in the same tree. And to tell the truth they too may roost on fire escapes but we've just never caught them at it.

As to the lighter belly feathers, they've gone through a molt since you last saw them and for whatever reason a hawks coloration does shift somewhat with each molt. According to John Blakeman an older hawk will have lost most of the color in her belly band, but I doubt either Isolde and certainly not Norman is old enough for that to be happening yet. Pale Male might be but he never had much of a belly band in the first place as he's so light colored.

Thanks again for the update!


AND NOW BACK TO OUR REGULARLY SCHEDULED PROGRAMMING--

The Milkweed follicles are bursting. (Look back up at the top photo as we've been talking about our favorite topic, hawks, for a reminder of what the Milkweed looks like currently.) What a strange and beautiful plant. Obviously the seeds are spread by the wind and as the seeds are substantial so are the wind catching fibers. They have a gorgeous sparkle in the sun, add that to large spherical umbels covered in dozens of flowers, I've never been able to understand the prejudice against them. Perhaps it has to do with their being a native plant and not an exotic. Besides, we'd not have Monarch Butterflies without them.

Here is a follicle that has only very recently burst. The long white flossy hairs and seeds are a packing marvel. The pod bursts due to the growth and ensuing pressure of the contents.

Then the contents dry in the sun and the breeze teases out the fibers until they take flight.



A number of follicles in various stages of the process.


Even the dried pods are beautiful.

Work on the nest has come to rather a standstill for the moment as the sparrows have moved into my pile of materials (left) for the winter. There must be fifty or so of them that roost there every night.

It was nearly 70 degrees today but as the evening began to come on water fowl took to the air from every direction with obvious intent.

Wisconsin is littered with bodies of water-lakes, ponds, rivers. And whatever the weather was today, the water birds know it's time to get out of town. Likely in another 24 hours we're going to have a plunge in temperature.

It is thought that one of the reasons that they migrate at night is to preserve their body moisture.

I went outside after full dark and could hear them calling to each other as the flew over heading for warmer climes by the light of a sliver of moon.

Donegal Browne