Courtship or rivalry: experience avian mating season in France

As the year advances, individuals of various bird species enter the arena of the natural world, determined to stake a claim on a territory, and so attract a member of the opposite sex as a mate with its potential to provide adequate sustenance to raise a family. They do this by showing off.

I hesitate to say it, but this is often the role of the males of the species. More often than not, the less flamboyant females discreetly observe from the sidelines, and make a choice on the basis of what they see, or hear.

That this is a male dominated activity has been the received wisdom ever since birds have been studied by (let’s face it, mainly male) scientists. However, recent studies have shown that female songbirds do in fact sing – it might be a different song from that of the males, and lasts for a shorter period of the year.

A fascinating article in Scientific American explores this bias.

The spectacular art of showing off

I imagine there can be few sights in the south of France – for those that watch the skies – more impressive than the display flight of the Golden eagle (Aigle royal). I once watched in awe as an eagle swooped up and down on its big dipper flight 15 times consecutively, in and out of a valley in the Ariège.

This display is called, rather appropriately, à festonner, in French. Any watching rival or, a potential mate, would have been suitably impressed by the magnificent show of power and grace, visible for miles around – Golden eagles are large birds, and this was deliberately showy, high in the sky against the cold clear skies of a mountain spring.

Sometimes you see a single bird, but two eagles may display together.

Sometimes the two eagles may actually touch each other with their talons (serres), the lower one flipping on to its back to present her own talons (it seems like a larger bird below, thus a female), and if you do not already know the two birds it can be hard to say whether it is either a battle between two rivals or a display between potential mates.

The apparent borderline between enticing a mate and the use of aggression towards a rival can be a thin one, in raptors at least, and also in some mammals, like the big cats. Videos of mating tigers and bears are fascinating to see, as this confrontational line between attraction and hostility of the individuals is breached.

I would like to point out that even these somewhat fearsome birds do not always demonstrate their powerful side; please take a look at an article I wrote in January 2023, titled ‘Eagles put on a memorable display’; it was a remarkable show of gentleness, and one of the best things I have ever seen in the avian world.

Sometimes the aggression of a display towards a rival is blatant, especially when there is clear differentiation between the sex of the same species; this is called dimorphism.

The cover photo of the two male Black grouse (Tétras lyre) shows the moment that they are ready to fight (which can, on occasion, lead to one of the birds being killed).

Prior to this confrontation there would have been a period of display strutting, as the two birds sized each up. Only if there is no clear size dominance found will they pass to the ultimate stage, the battle.

Mainly, however, the different males will stay apart, displaying individually to the audience of observing females, using the sounds and gestures of a ritualised dance to impress their suitability as a mate. 

The vibrating head of a close cousin of the Black grouse, the Capercaillie (Grand tetra), is shown in the photo above, as he paraded up and down his ground, belching and bellowing his strange calls during several hours. There were two other males doing the same, a few dozen metres away in the forest, but they never came together.

Tigers and bears are rare in the Aude (although very occasionally a bear has been seen!), and to find something similar in the mammal world we need to search among smaller animals; in this case foxes (renard).

Read also: 83 bears live in the Pyrenees show latest data - should we be scared of them?

'Highway robber' foxes

The friend, Adrian, who took the photo, below, told an interesting story about the two foxes pictured. It is indeed a sort of showing off, but for a completely different aim. Actually it is neither a confrontation nor foreplay before mating. These two foxes were a couple of fox ‘highway robbers’ who, it appears, have famously been stopping cars on a quiet stretch of road in inland Spain for some years.

Adrian has come across two different people who have witnessed the same behaviour on this stretch of road. The pair of foxes work together – one jumping in front of the car, causing the car to stop, and the other lying twenty metres away by the side of the road and joining the other for their ill-begotten spoils, which is, of course, food.

Whether they were brothers, sisters or a couple is not known. Perhaps they were hand reared or exhibiting learned behaviour from parents. The behaviour by foxes on this stretch of road has lasted years. 

Read also: Letters: 'We cannot treat an injured fox due to French wildlife rules’, claims vet

A person from Teruel (near where Adrian was stopped) had also been stopped by the foxes, and he implied that the behaviour was long standing and thus may have been practised by subsequent generations of foxes in that area.

Adrian says that the behaviour he saw was very friendly between the two foxes, and reminded him of playful dogs rather than a dominance issue. The fact that he was nipped on the ankle when he was slow to give them food reinforces the suspicion that they have had a lot to do with humans one way or another.

A local naturalist was of the opinion that they or their forbears had been reared by a local farmer. It was certainly not fighting, most likely playing together as ‘friends’ or else a pair. Neither had the white tipped tail indicative of dog foxes.

So, the animal kingdom is full of surprising ‘showy’ behaviour. It might be extremely awe-inspiring in Golden eagles and other raptors, but can be much gentler in other bird species, but just as impressive, be it in a different way.