If you’ve been watching the Gulf Tower and Cathedral of Learning falconcams this month, you’ve seen the peregrines bowing and “chirping” to each other in courtship display. Their rituals cement their pair bond and get them in tune with each other for the breeding season.
Some birds have fancier courtship displays. Pairs of waved albatrosses (Phoebastria irrorata) get reacquainted after six months at sea by doing a courtship dance.
The video above shows their elaborate ritualized moves: bill clacking, rapid bill circling, bowing, touching the ground and their sides with their beaks, raising their bills, and making a whoo sound. You have to visit the Galápagos to see them as it’s the only place where they breed.
The pairs do their dance in time for the female to lay her single egg in April to June. Nestlings reach adult size in December and leave the colony by January to forage at sea until they reach maturity at 5-6 years old.
During El Niño there is too little food to raise a family so many birds don’t breed at all. This year is a hard one for the waved albatross.
Sadly, this species is critically endangered. The waved albatross’ range is confined to the Galápagos and the Humboldt current off the coasts of Peru and Ecuador. Though long-lived, these birds are slow to reproduce and their population is declining, especially at the hands of longline fishing.
It’s quite a privilege to see them dance.
(video from Peregrine Travel Centre Adelaide on YouTube)
This is really amazing. I’m left wondering what leads to courtship rituals like this. Bowerbird nests I can connect the dots.
My other favorite feature: their “eyebrows!” I think this is probably an illusion because it looks like their eyes are set in the skull to look downward which would make sense if they spend so much time at sea looking down for their next meal. A very distinctive feature nonetheless.
Thank you for sharing this video. I would never be able to view something like this without your input.
Thanks again,
Debbie Nowakowski