Hummingbirds have evolved intricate courtship displays to attract mates. The mating displays allow male hummingbirds to show off their vibrant plumage, athleticism, and perseverance to potential mates. Hummingbird courtship displays serve several purposes – they communicate desirable genetic traits, defend territory and resources, and stimulate the female’s breeding condition.
What are the components of a hummingbird’s mating display?
A male hummingbird’s mating display is comprised of visual and vocal signaling. Visually, males exhibit bright, iridescent plumage and perform aerial acrobatics. Their vocalizations create unique humming and chirping sounds. The combination of visual and vocal signaling allows males to fully demonstrate their fitness. The key components of a hummingbird’s mating display are:
- Bright plumage – Males have vibrant, iridescent throat feathers, crowns, and tails that glisten in the sunlight. This plumage acts as an ornament to attract females.
- Aerial displays – Males fly in loops, dives, and rapid ascents up to 130 body lengths per second. These displays demonstrate stamina, agility, and skill.
- Courtship feeding – In some species, males catch insects and offer them to females as nuptial gifts to show their ability to provide.
- Vocalizations – Males make buzzing, squeaking, or clicking sounds with their syrinx (vocal organ). The sounds communicate possession of territory.
- Ritualized dances – Species like the Sword-billed hummingbird perform ritualized courtship dances, touching bills and flying in synchronized patterns.
The combination of bright plumage, acrobatic flight displays, courtship feeding, vocalizations, and ritualized dances allows males to fully showcase their genetic quality and fitness to mates.
How do hummingbirds use plumage in mating displays?
Male hummingbirds have evolved brightly colored, iridescent plumage that serves as a visual ornament during courtship. When illuminated, their throat feathers, crowns, and tails glisten in vibrant shades of red, blue, green, and violet. The major ways hummingbirds use plumage displays in courtship are:
- Signal health and fitness – The iridescent sheen of feathers comes from light refracting off color-producing nanostructures under the surface. Higher quality plumage results from a bird being in excellent health during molting periods.
- Attract female attention – Bright plumage stands out against the background, catching a female’s eye. Experiments using model hummingbirds show females are most interested when males display brightly colored throat feathers.
- Indicate maturity – Adult males tend to have fuller, more vibrant plumage than younger birds. Mature plumage shows a male’s status and experience.
- Species recognition – Unique feather patterns help birds identify appropriate mates within their species.
By spreading their tail feathers, pivoting their bodies, and erecting their iridescent throat feathers towards females, male hummingbirds ensure their colorful plumage is highly visible and able to be showcased during courtship displays.
What aerial displays do hummingbirds perform?
Hummingbird aerial displays involve rapid climbs and dives, arcing flights, backward somersaults, figure-8 patterns, and sustained hovering in front of females. These athletic maneuvers demonstrate a male’s physical fitness and flying capabilities. Some specific aerial displays performed include:
- The Shuttle Display – Males fly back and forth 30 feet in an elongated figure-8 shape.
- The Pendulum Display – Males fly in a large vertical circle, with the female situated at the bottom center.
- Dive Displays – Males ascend rapidly then dive toward the female, braking dramatically before impact.
- J-shaped Dive – Males ascend then dive toward the female in a J-shaped arc.
- U-shaped Dive – Males descend then sweep upward in a U-shape back toward the female.
These rapid dives and climbs require immense power output. By performing in close proximity to the female, males demonstrate maneuverability and skill. Females observe aerial displays when assessing a mate’s genetic quality.
How does courtship feeding relate to hummingbird displays?
With some hummingbird species, the male’s courtship display involves catching insects and feeding them to prospective female mates. This courtship feeding displays the male’s flying ability, as catching insects mid-air requires expertise. It also demonstrates his ability to provide nutrition, an appealing trait in a mate. Some examples of courtship feeding displays include:
- MaleAnna’s hummingbirds feed females mid-flight by passing prey back and forth bill-to-bill.
- Male blue-throated hummingbirds attract females by calling and displaying insect-filled beaks.
- Male magnificent hummingbirds perform courtship flights near sap wells, then feed saps and insects to females.
Females approach males at preferred foraging spots to observe courtship feeding. If satisfied by his offerings, she may allow him to mate with her. Courtship feeding continues throughout incubation and sometimes after the female begins brooding as well.
What vocalizations do hummingbirds use in their displays?
Male hummingbirds produce specialized sounds with their syrinx to attract mates and advertise territory ownership. These vocalizations include:
- High-pitched chirps – Short, repeated chirps communicate sexual arousal in some species.
- Squeaks and buzzes – Made during courtship flights or when chasing intruders.
- Dive sounds – Made distinct trilling or popping sounds with tail feathers during dives.
- Songs – Extended, complex vocalizations incorporating buzzes, chirps, squeaks, and whistles.
Females are believed to choose mates in part based on these vocalizations. Males with longer, more complex songs tend to attract more females. The variety of sounds males can produce likely indicates overall fitness. Vocalizations also define possession of feeding territories, Chase intruders from flowers and feeders.
What ritualized dances do hummingbirds perform?
Some hummingbird species perform coordinated dances as part of courtship. These ritualized dances involve precisely choreographed flying maneuvers and interactions between males and females. Examples include:
- The Swordbill Dance – Males and females perch together then fly rapidly upward, crisscrossing in a figure-8 before returning to the perch.
- The Purple-crowned Fairy Dance – Males flutter back and forth in front of the female, touching bills then rising upwards together.
- The Shuttle Dance – Partners fly rapidly in a synchronized shuttle pattern, side-by-side or one after the other.
Like other courtship displays, these coordinated dances likely test the aerobatic skill and stamina of both partners. The ability to perfectly synchronize demonstrates a pair’s compatibility. Dances also help pairs assess traits like timing, speed, and maneuverability prior to mating.
When are hummingbird mating displays performed?
Mating displays are performed by male hummingbirds when females are most receptive – during the breeding season. Peak activity occurs:
- In late winter and spring for tropical species
- In spring and summer for temperate species
However, elaborate displays can happen any time a female hummer visits a male’s territory. Males will take advantage of opportunities to show off when females are present. In species like Anna’s and Costa’s hummingbirds, males may perform displays nearly year-round if the climate is suitable.
Where do mating displays occur?
Hummingbird courtship displays often occur in open airspaces with plenty of room for acrobatic flying. Prime locations include:
- Around tree canopies and forest edges
- Near open meadows and fields
- Around lakes, ponds, and streams
- In and around flower gardens
- Around backyard feeders
Males also display on established perches within their territories. These sites allow females to perch and observe aerial displays. Males vigorously guard preferred display locations from intruding males.
How does the environment impact mating displays?
Certain environmental conditions can impact the activity level and success of hummingbird mating displays:
- Time of day – Displays occur more frequently in the morning and evening when temperatures are cooler.
- Weather – Rainy or windy weather inhibits aerial displays, while sunny, calm conditions promote activity.
- Food availability – Plentiful nectar and insects promote vigorous displaying as birds have ample energy.
- Lighting – Bright sunlight shows off iridescent plumage best, enhancing visual displays.
- Perch availability – Abundant display perches provide females good vantage points for observing displays.
In ideal conditions with plenty of resources, males can perform elaborate and prolonged mating displays to impress any females that enter their territories.
Do female hummingbirds display as well?
Female hummingbirds play a less obvious role in courtship compared to elaborate male displays. But females do exhibit some mating behaviors including:
- Ornament display – Females may puff up their white-tipped throat feathers.
- Choosiness – Females carefully observe and accept or reject male courtship attempts.
- Solicitation – Females may perform a copulation solicitation display, signaling willingness to mate.
- Following – Females may chase and prod unwilling males to gain their attention and stimulate pursuit.
Though understated, female behaviors provide essential feedback to help motivate male courtship performances. Their preferences guide the evolution of complex male displays.
What qualities do females assess during courtship?
When observing male mating displays, female hummingbirds are believed to assess the following indicators of genetic quality and fitness:
- Coloration – Bright, vibrant plumage indicates health and nutritional status.
- Ornamentation – Tail length, crown shape, and feather “quality” are evaluated.
- Agility – Complex aerial maneuvers demonstrate strength and flying skill.
- Stamina – Extended and frequent displays indicate fitness.
- Vocalizations – Complex songs may indicate brain development.
- Coordination – Precise synchronized dances indicate physical capability.
By preferring males with more elaborate plumage, complex songs, superior flying skills and stamina, females select mates with the “best” genes to ensure healthier, fitter offspring.
How do hummingbirds attract and court mates from a distance?
Hummingbirds use long-distance visual and vocal signaling to attract potential mates to their territory before engaging in close-range courtship. These long-range display tactics include:
- Flight displays – Males perform aerial stunts and rapid climbs up to 130 feet in the air to stand out.
- Plumage displays– Perching with tail and throat feathers erect makes iridescent colors visible at a distance.
- Song spreading – Broadcast songs and call notes carry over 600 feet to signal breeding condition.
- Landscape perching – Displaying from exposed branches or wires makes the male more visible.
If initial long-range displays catch a female’s attention, she will approach the territory to further assess the male’s courtship performance and displays at closer range.
What behaviors lead up to mating in hummingbirds?
Once courtship displays have attracted a receptive female, hummingbird mating progresses through the following sequence of behaviors:
- The male performs an aerial dance in front of the perched female.
- The female gives a copulation solicitation display, signaling readiness to mate.
- The male mounts the female and holds her nape in his bill.
- The female raises her tail feathers to facilitate cloacal contact.
- The male-female pair briefly copulate in flight or while perched.
- The male dismounts and the mated pair separates.
Mating is often very brief, lasting only a few seconds. However, pairs may mate repeatedly within a breeding season. Once mated, the female assumes all parental duties – nest building, incubating, and raising young.
Do male hummingbirds mate with multiple females?
Most hummingbird species demonstrate a polygynous mating strategy in which male mate with multiple females in a breeding season. Benefits for males include:
- Increasing reproductive success by fertilizing more eggs.
- Not needing to provide parental care, allowing more time for mating displays.
- Passing on genes to a larger number of offspring.
Up to six females may lay eggs in a single male’s territory. Females also sometimes pursue extra-pair copulations with neighboring males, who mate opportunistically, though they provide no resources or parental care to resulting young.
Do mating displays lead to hummingbird hybrids?
In rare cases, the frenetic energy and chaos of communal breeding areas can lead hummingbirds of different species to participate in each other’s mating displays. This can result in attempted cross-species courtships and production of hybrids, especially between closely related species. Documented hummingbird hybrids include:
- Rufous x Allen’s hummingbird
- Anna’s x Costa’s hummingbird
- Blue-throated x Azure-crowned hummingbird
- Broad-tailed x Rufous hummingbird
However, hybrid offspring are often infertile or experience low fitness. Reproductive isolation between species is generally maintained through differences in display timing, preferences, and markings that allow females to recognize appropriate mates.
How does sexual selection impact hummingbird displays?
Sexual selection pressures drive the evolution of exaggerated male hummingbird courtship displays. Since females are the choosy sex, mate competition favors the following adaptations:
- Bright plumage – Increases visual appeal and stirs female interest.
- Ornate feathers – Tail streamers and crown plumes charm females.
- Complex songs – Longer vocalizations signal a “better” male.
- Elaborate dances – Precisely coordinated moves indicate fitness.
Generation after generation, sexual selection amplifies male display traits that are preferred by females. More robust, vigorous displays increase a males’ reproductive success. This fuels the evolution of the spectacular mating displays hummingbirds are known for.
Conclusion
Hummingbird mating displays have evolved into dramatic and intricate courtship rituals. Females carefully evaluate male plumage, stamina, coordination, and perseverance during these energetic performances. By preferentially mating with the most fit males, as demonstrated by their displays, female choice results in healthier, stronger, and ultimately more attractive offspring. The remarkable mating displays of hummingbirds will continue to dazzle observers while allowing these tiny birds to communicate their readiness and suitability for reproduction.
