Female Performance of Male Courtship Display In Northern Cardinals

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

6-1-2014

Department

Biological Sciences

School

Biological, Environmental, and Earth Sciences

Abstract

Courtship behaviors in birds are often considered male-specific, as males compete for mates through displays that exhibit individual quality. Several courtship displays have been described for male Northern Cardinals including the complex song-dance display. We observed female cardinals performing the song-dance display on two separate occasions in south Mississippi within pre-breeding and breeding periods. Female performance of the display was very similar as reported for males. Given the behavioral attributes of cardinal mating pairs, it is plausible that bi-directional mate choice exists for this species and females are demonstrating aspects of individual quality to males through the song-dance display. Additional monitoring of courtship behavior is needed to determine the function of female performance display that was previously thought to be male specific.

Publication Title

Southeastern Naturalist

Volume

13

Issue

2

First Page

N13

Last Page

N17

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