[texbirds] Re: RFI: hummingbird courtship display
- From: "Bert Frenz" <bertf@xxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: <texbirds@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Thu, 17 Apr 2014 08:29:18 -0500
I received several responses to my question, suggesting Black-chinned,
Ruby-throated, Rufous and Allen's Hummingbirds. Also, I was reminded that
Peterson's old book shows display flight patterns, but I am traveling and do
not have my copies of Peterson's books with me.
I looked up Black-chinned on the Internet and it describes its display as
"He courts his female with a dazzling aerial display involving a
pendulum-like flight pattern." And, in another source, "During courtship
and territorial defense, males display by diving 66-100 feet." Elsewhere it
is described as "A male executes a series of U-shaped swoops where he passes
close to the female at the bottom of his arc."
On the other hand, Broad-tailed Hummingbird displays are described as
"Courtship display flights in wide U-shapes are common." Also, "When male
Broad-tailed Hummingbirds are courting, they climb to great heights, hover,
loudly trill their wings, and dive down to the females again in spectacular
displays."
Ruby-throated Hummingbirds display is described as "Males give a courtship
display to females that enter their territory, making a looping, U-shaped
dive starting from as high as 50 feet above the female. If the female
perches, the male shifts to making fast side-to-side flights while facing
her."
Rufous Hummingbird flight is described as "The male rufous hummingbird
performs a display flight as part of courtship, calling while flying in a
steep oval or in the shape of a 'J'. If the female perches, the male may fly
in a series of horizontal figure-eights."
Allen's is described as "The courtship flight of the male Allen's
Hummingbird is a frantic back and forth flight arc of about 25 feet (7.5 m)
similar to the motion of a swinging pendulum, followed by a high-speed dive
from about 100 feet (30 m)."
So far, I am leaning toward Black-chinned as what I saw, but will do more
research and am open to more suggestions.
Bert
-----Original Message-----
From: texbirds-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:texbirds-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx]
On Behalf Of Bert Frenz
Sent: Thursday, April 17, 2014 7:02 AM
To: texbirds@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [texbirds] RFI: hummingbird courtship display
Does any species of hummingbird do the wide U-shaped courtship display other
than Broad-tailed Hummingbird?
On April 15 at Blucher Park, Corpus Christi, our birding group witnessed a
hummingbird courtship display. Just above the treetops, the hummingbird
repeatedly flew high, rocketed downward and propelled upward in a wide U.
It did this with amazing speed and constant repetition. It was as if the
hummiingbird was stuck in one loop of a giant roller coaster.
I could not visually identify the hummer. Is this behavior unique to
Broad-tailed Hummingbird?
Bert
-------------------------------
Bert Frenz
Bert2@xxxxxxxxxxx
Birds of the Oaks & Prairies of Texas
www.bafrenz.com <http://www.bafrenz.com/>
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