Wild Mating Rituals

_{|  STORY BY CINDY CAIN  |}

While many humans will be indulging in romance on Valentine’s Day, some animal species are gearing up for their own late winter wooing.

For instance, the male American woodcock launches into an elaborate mating ritual starting in March, said Bob Bryerton, an interpretive naturalist for the Forest Preserve District. After he finds an appropriate open area, the woodcock begins to call or “peent” while he rocks his body and stamps his feet in what is known as a woodcock walk.

During this aerial display, the woodcock looks like a “leaf blowing in the wind” as he drops to the ground near where he started, Bryerton said.

“At that point, he will gather himself a bit, look around to see if any females were attracted by the flight and then start all over again be peenting on the ground,” he added.

If you’d like to learn more about American woodcocks and possibly witness the mating flight, the Forest Preserve District will be offering two sessions of its “Woodcock Walk” program from 6:30-8 p.m. on Saturday March 24 at Hickory Creek Preserve – LaPorte Road Access in Mokena and Plum Creek Nature Center in Crete Township. The free program is for ages 7 or older. Register at least two days before each program by calling 708.946.2216.

Bryerton said the woodcock exhibition can be tough to view on your own. The mating ritual takes place just after sunset when it’s dark and the preserves are closed. Also, the bird typically stays camouflaged with plants when it’s on the ground. People who attend the program will be better equipped to search for woodcocks in their own neighborhoods and know what their “peent” sounds like.

While woodcocks are camouflaged much of the year, “In the spring they are so driven to do their courtship ritual that they don’t seem to mind that we are there and they carry on regardless,” Bryerton said.

Woodcocks aren’t the only birds that put on a show. Whooping cranes will dance and flap their wings prior to procreation. Forest Preserve District staff observed the amazing whooping crane mating ritual a few years ago in a field off of Gougar Road.

“We witnessed an elaborate ballet known as their courting dance, where a monogamous pair of whooping cranes performed a beautiful, almost choreographed, dance together for about 25 minutes,” said Juanita Armstrong-Ullberg, land manager for the Forest Preserve District’s natural resource department. “The birds appeared to be professing their love for one another.”

Chris Gutmann, a Forest Preserve facility supervisor at Isle a la Cache Museum and preserve in Romeoville, said the common goldeneye is another bird with a penchant for public displays.

Here’s how the Cornell Lab of Ornithology’s allaboutbirds.org website describes the duck’s dance:

“In winter and early spring, male Common Goldeneyes perform a complex series of courtship displays that includes up to 14 moves with names like 'masthead,' 'bowsprit,' and 'head throw kick,' in which the male bends his head back to touch his rump, then thrusts forward and kicks up water with his feet.”

Gutmann said he has seen this performance at Isle a la Cache.

“It’s really fun to watch. I tend to see them display these behaviors in groups so you have all these males whipping back their heads together to impress the females swimming amongst them,” he said.

“At the Isle, there’s been a group of 20-plus consistently hanging out together and displaying courtship behaviors for the past few weeks.”

Woodcocks, whooping cranes and common goldeneyes are just a few of the birds that go above and beyond in the romance department. Armstrong-Ullberg noted the passion of bobolinks and Gutmann cited ruby-throated hummingbirds, hooded mergansers and red-tailed hawks as species that really put on a performance.

Birds aren’t the only species with interesting mating rituals.

Female garter snakes, for instance, use pheromones to attract male snakes. Sometimes this works so well, a “mating ball” is formed out of many snakes.

Water snakes also form mating balls.

Male nursery web spiders present a potential mate with an insect “gift” wrapped in spider silk before the two tie the knot.

Armstrong-Ullberg likened all of these rituals to human behavior during Victorian times, when someone who was a good dancer or a talented piano player might have better luck attracting a more prominent mate.

“Each species’ behavior has evolved over time, and the more elaborate or even similar the dance, the more likely these creatures will bond,” she said.

_{(Lead image courtesy of Paul Dacko)}

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