Stock doves courting

I was lucky this morning to watch a pair of Stock Doves courting from a good vantage point. They usually stick to high branches in the trees in the park, only rarely coming to the ground. Today I heard a male's booming call from the trees opposite the pond, and I climbed to a small hill on the other side. My new camera is heavy and I still need to get used to its weight, so I eventually leaned against a tree trunk to steady myself. The male crouched on a branch bowing parsimoniously at the same time that fanned its tail - very similar to woodpigeon's courtship -, facing the female. Its neck, inflated with air showed while cooing showed its green iridescent neck patch, which looks much larger than when the dove is at rest (bottom photo).

A side view of the male singing

The male looks at the female about to land

She greets her with this lovely display

She eventually lands next to him. This photo is not brilliant, but I like how the neck patch is actually ruffed, something I had not seen before.

More male bowing, fanning tail, showing its iridescent neck patch.

A stock dove at rest, from 27th Feb. Compare the size of the neck path.

Male Blackbird courtship display

The Blackbird must be one of the birds I am most familiar with. Yet, I have only watched it courting once previously, and have never witnessed a copulation. Today I watched a male apparently subsinging inside a bush, but, upon approach, I realised it was an adult male adopting a strange, stretched-neck posture. I watched the bird and realised that there was a female low inside the bush. I couldn't include her in the photos, but I managed to get a few of the male. The one above is my favourite, there are a few more below.
 This is David Snow's description of the blackbird's courtship display:

The fully developed courtship behaviour of the male is the blackbird's most striking display. The head, with the crown feathers partially erected and the beak open, is stretched forward; the neck-feathers are compressed, and the body feathers fluffed out, especially the feathers of the rump, which form a conspicuous hump; and the tail is fanned and depressed. The displying bird has a curiously wild, staring appearence.[...] The whole time, with his beak held open, he usually utters a low 'strangled' song, made up of chattering alarm notes, rough warbles and subdued snatches of what sounds like true song.  If the display is performed in a tree, the male remains stationary or at most occasionally shifts to another perch near by, while the bowing part of the display is more prominent, developing into a rhythmic up and down movement of the whole head and neck.  

This display takes its full form during pair formation, unpaired males - young males or widowers - court females most often in February-March. Paired females attack displaying males, unpaired females appeared indifferent, although they might later mate with the male.
A brief form of the display occurs just after females solicit copulation in the days prior egg laying. According to David Snow, copulation is always interfered with by other males, who jump at the copulating male, often knocking him off the female.

This is the first photo I managed of the blackbird singing

More information
Snow, D.W. 1958. A study of blackbirds. George Allen and Unwin Ltd.

The bird with the silvery eyes

In his most amusing book King Solomon's Ring, Konrad Lorenz described his experiences rearing a veritable menagerie of different animals including jewel cichlids, water shrews, a raven, cockatoos geese and ducks. His intention was to develop an intimate relationship with them and understand their behaviour and communication. He reared the birds himself then set them free. This allowed him to have very tame animals that could be observed from close quarters. The longest chapter is devoted to his colony of Jackdaws (Coloeus monedula), which he started by hand-rearing more than a dozen of them. He ringed his Jackdaws with colour and metallic rings and named them accordingly to their ring colours. This chapter is a vivid account of Jackdaw behaviour. Lorenz was of the opinion that you had to get under the animal's skin to understand their actions, and his fascinating account shows that he got very close to feeling like a Jackdaw and he was definitely treated by one with a male that adopted him as his partner and insisted in feeding him chewed worms.

Flying together
Jackdaws are very sociable corvids, they like to fly in tight flocks. The members flock feed together and breed together in loose colonies in natural holes in cliffs and old trees and in buildings commonly using chimney pots. He described the "kia" call as equivalent to "fly away with me" and a longer version he learned to distinguish "kiaw" as "fly back home with me". His first jackdaw, Jock found dark birds flying away from him irresistible, and would often pursue a Hooded Crow away in his walks with Lorenz. Adults use this instinct to entice young to fly with them and will keep a close eye "looking over their shoulders" as they do so, to make sure the young can follow. Lorenz noticed how adults adjusted their flight and made it slower when fledglings were flying with them, making it easier for the young to follow.

The rattling reaction
One of the most surprising discoveries made by Lorenz was the instinctive basis of the rattling reaction and how . He found by chance - by taking his black swimming trunks from his pocket - that a dark floppy object held by something was a very strong signal that started a furious attack. His tame jackdaw attacked his hand drawing blood. The pecking was accompanied by loud rattling calls. In other occasions - such as when he intended to ring the young jackdaws in his colony, he observed that holding the feathered young will draws the members of the flock together into a rattling reaction. This presumably has the function that a predator that catches a jackdaw receives such a severe punishment. The memory of the offender is imprinted into all the members of the flock participating in the rattling reaction and will persist for years and form the basis of local traditions that will be passed down generations. As the rattling reaction was elicited when Lorenz held feathered young for ringing, he decided to dress up with the only outfit he had at hand - a devil costume -  and climb onto his roof to ring the young jackdaws. A sight that shocked some of the people of his village one day.

A pecking order
The jackdaw flock has a precise stable hierarchy. There is a pecking order in which "very high caste jackdaws are most condescending to those of lowest degree and consider them merely as the dust between their feet" according to Lorenz. Males, which are larger than females are higher in the rank. High ranking jackdaws always takes the weaker side when intervening on disputes, which helps maintaining the cohesiveness of the colony. The way Jackdaws assert their dominance is by raising the neck pale feathers.

A pair of jackdaws basking in the early morning sun

Lifelong partners
Jackdaws are socially monogamous and pair for life. Pairs form on the individuals' first spring, although they are unlikely to breed until their second spring due to a shortage of nesting sites. The partners in a jackdaw pair are together all year round and support each other loyaly in any dispute. The rank of a new female partner automatically rises correspondingly in the female's rank order, a refinement of Lorenz discoveries explained in the later monograph on Jackdaws by A Roell. Lorenz said he was surprised how quickly all jackdaws in the colony knew of the rise in rank of the new partner of the recently arrived alpha male. But not only that, the female also knew that now she stood over everybody else! The male will show the female a nest site by calling her with "zink" calls. The bond between the pair is shown by allopreening, usually by the female which will preen her partner's neck, particularly his silvery feathers. The female also will beg for food and the male will courtship feed her as he will in time feed the young. Both male and female share the building and defence of the nest and the rearing of the young but only the female incubates. During incubation, the male will feed the female.

The few pairs of local Jackdaws now sitting on their nests remind me of Lorenz entertaining book.

More information
Konrad Lorenz (1954). King Solomon's ring: new light on animal ways Methuen, London Other: 0415267471

Röell, A. (1978). Social Behaviour of the Jackdaw, Corvus monedula, in Relation To Its Niche Behaviour, 64 (1), 1-122 DOI: 10.1163/156853978X00459

A gentle side of crows

The resident pair of crows were sitting on an aerial this morning, and the individual to the right was cawing. I was waiting for it to call again camera in hand - I like the arched necks and up and down powerful movements of crows cawing. Instead, after a few moments, the other individual approached its mate and began preening. Carrion Crows, as other corvids, form long-term typically life-long partnerships, where both pair members share most of the duties. In fact, the only noticeable division of labour is incubating and feeding the young nestlings. Pairs remain and defend their territory together year round. Usually, the pair defend the same territory year after year. Pair cooperation takes the form of aggressive territory defence from other crows but also other species which might compete for food. Both members of the pair approach intruders and engage in duet cawing, apparently inciting each other to attack them. They will also carry out 'pincer tactics' in which each member of the pair try and face each other keeping the intruder in the middle. Carrion crow intruders are the main nest predators, with up to 50% of their nests being robbed by other crows,  so it is important to keep them away from the territory.

More information

Bossema, I and R.F. Benus (1985) Territorial defence and intra-pair cooperation in the carrion crow (Corvus corone). Behav Ecol Sociobiol. 16:99-104. here.

Nicola S. Clayton, Nathan J. Emery, The social life of corvids, Current Biology, Volume 17, Issue 16, 21 August 2007, Pages R652-R656, ISSN 0960-9822, DOI: 10.1016/j.cub.2007.05.070.here.