DO BIRDS MATE FOR LIFE?
Everyone enjoys a good love story with a happy ending. Humans fall in love, get married, and live happily ever after, right? Maybe in movies and fictional books but, in reality, many marriages end in divorce. The U.S. Census Bureau found that the average marriage in the U.S. lasts 8 years.
For birds, don’t assume that your backyard species mate for life. A few species, like swans and cranes, do come close to mating for life, but the vast majority of birds do not. Instead, many have strong pair bonds within a given breeding season, but those same two individuals might not re-connect in future breeding seasons. There are also numerous species including Great-tailed Grackles, Red-winged Blackbirds, and all species of hummingbirds that exhibit polygamous breeding behavior where one male mates with numerous females in the breeding season, leaving her to do the rearing of the young. Additionally, your backyard cardinal or mockingbird might appear to be happily paired up while DNA tests of nestling birds often reveal that a neighboring male has fathered the eggs she laid. Daddy is unknowingly raising another’s offspring. To learn more, see birdsandblooms.com
Within the bird world, true love is overshadowed by Mother Nature’s push for a wide range of mating behaviors that ensure genetic diversity in order to keep a species persisting on this planet. When you look at birds, don’t think of a Hollywood love story, not even close. Instead, think about species survival. Do it for the owls.