When we last visited AOM, his lovelorn mate had attempted to seduce him three separate times by presenting him with obvious solicitation postures. He ignored her first two sultry invitations and outright rejected the third, by flying away from her and landing a few feet away from her on the pavilion rooftop.
Here, AOM is on the left, after landing about two feet away from her after her third attempt at seduction. This is the last photo in my previous post. The 11 photos below continue the story.
A few seconds after landing there he apparently had a change of heart. Her rather unenthusiastic solicitation posture must have been enough to inspire him. So he took off…
toward her and…
landed on her back with the obvious intention of mating with her. Finally.
I was impressed that he landed completely on the flat of his tarsi, instead of on his feet. Landing on his feet would have the potential of scratching her with his needle-sharp claws. At least I assume that’s why he landed the way he did, although balance may also have played a role.
With no penis involved, and lots of large and small feathers potentially in the way, the successful transfer of sperm to the female is one neat trick – on the part of them both. Keeping the male balanced and relatively stable on such an unsteady platform isn’t easy, but they both contribute to the effort – the male by using his wings and the female by…
orienting her body almost vertically and getting her tail out of the way. Here she’s holding her tail far to the side, away from where their cloacas are meeting for sperm transfer.
I took 33 photos while he was on top of her but most of them are similar so I’m only including two of them today. But 33 photos while he was up there tells me that the actual mating took less than 3 seconds (2.74999 seconds to be precise – my camera’s burst rate is set at 12 frames/second).
Whenever I see birds mating, I can’t help but think “Wham, bam, thank you ma’am”. I know, immature of me. But remember, I spent 33 years in classrooms full of teenagers, half of them boys in the process of being introduced to their suddenly gushing hormones. And I was a biology teacher of all things. Couldn’t, and still can’t, help myself.
Now that the task is completed, it’s time to dismount.
This might be my favorite shot of the series. I like the way their tails are crossed with her left wing, his leaping posture with one leg and foot reaching forward and the fact that I got catch lights in both of their eyes.
Then he landed on one foot, perfectly displaying the AOM on his green leg band.
The female seemed reluctant to abandon her tail-up mating posture. She held it to some degree for an unusually long time. I couldn’t help thinking that she was wistfully saying to herself “Well, that didn’t last long”.
AOM wasted no time getting further away from her after his short performance.
Her reaction looked to me like she was stomping her foot.
I can only imagine why.
Ron
Note: Normally I don’t name ‘my’ birds. I think naming a wild bird can border on being disrespectful. I made an exception for AOM and since I did, I feel badly that I didn’t name his mate. She isn’t banded so I just didn’t.
Hi Ron, Late to comment today. My goodness, such expert images you captured. Truly an amazing glimpse of Kestrel interactions! Wow!
Excellent photos & excellent commentary as usual.
Hope you are getting your new trailer figured out; even though the ‘basics’ are similar among trailers, there is always some new twist to discover…. KM
Outstanding photography Ron – wham bang and it is over, but
apparently Lothario go the job done. Great job Ron.
SO… YOU HAVEN”T changed! I still remember a certain young man in one of my classes that was getting ready to graduate. He had “landed” on 3 girls – who were all bragging about the fact that they were expecting …..’s baby;
Your shots are still amazing – and the fact that you find these 2 together on more than one occasion (at least finding him a few times)is impressive. You do good work – even if it is pornographic.
Judy, I remember sad situations similar to what you described at South High, but I don’t think I remember that particular one. Maybe it was before I got there.
And no, I haven’t changed…
(Speaking of anthropomorphism) AOM apparently hasn’t heard that old maxim, “Happy wife, happy life….” But I’m sure all will be forgiven if the result of his half-hearted (?) efforts to seal this partnership result in eggs and chicks. My fingers are X’d for babies, even if it’s not the perfect marriage.
Chris, if I remember correctly, around here kestrels usually begin laying eggs in a month or so. I hope I can figure out where these two end up nesting.
What a great series! I think I agree that the dismount shot may be the best. And the foot stomping is hilarious.
Thanks, Cathy. Glad you like them both.
Wonderful series! Glad you have such good humor about biology. I think that had a lot to do with you being my favorite teacher in high school… and now as well!
That means a lot to me, Brett. Thanks very much.
An impressive balancing act! Especially since the performance was on that pointy roof. And is that a line of ice/frost on the roof as well? Worthy of the trapeze artists at Cirque de Soleil.
All the parts they have to coordinate – wings, tails, talons, fluffy feathers – so neat the way you captured the whole thing!
Yes, I believe that’s a line of frost on the very peak, with splashes of bird whitewash below. Thanks, Carolyn.
Great capture Ron – and a fun story! Took her FOUR attempts to lure him in. Her stomping foot at the end is priceless – thanks for the narration! At least in the bird world AOM did not end with ‘hey babe – can you make me a sandwich.’
“At least in the bird world AOM did not end with ‘hey babe – can you make me a sandwich’ ”
Or smoking a cigarette. Thanks, Kathleen.
Wonderful series, Ron.
Lotta work on both sides for a wham, bam, thank-you ma’am! 
I haven’t heard that one in awhile! 
AOM definitely wanting to distance himself – of course, some females can get “canky” after…….. 
“back when” girls were not encouraged to take science other than the required ones. I always enjoyed it!
“I haven’t heard that one in awhile!”
Glad to refresh your memory! Thanks, Judy.
“Whenever I see birds mating, I can’t help but think “Wham, bam, thank you ma’am”. I know, immature of me. But remember, I spent 33 years in classrooms full of teenagers, half of them boys in the process of being introduced to their suddenly gushing hormones. And I was a biology teacher of all things. Couldn’t, and still can’t, help myself.”
Same, Ron. Same. (And my classes were at least 75% boys.)
My classes were always pretty evenly split. Even my Utah Wildlife classes, which one might think would have more boys than girls. But then I always promoted girls taking science classes – any science classes.
I’m the same way about promoting girls in STEM and my anat/phys class was about 60-40 girls to boys. Unfortunately, the Small Learning Community (SLC) in which I taught had many years of having mostly boys thanks to the “powers that be.” Originally, the teachers were in charge of recruitment and placement into the SLCs and we were pretty even, but that only lasted a few years.
I still have my black STEM t-shirts with white lettering. Somewhere…
What a great story Ron, you have a great way with words.
Connie, thanks very much. I try.
Super interesting photo series Ron. Outstanding photos.
I have the same head-scratching wonder as Kris about the evolution of this “mechanically clumsy operation”. It all seems so incongruent for these beautiful and incredibly talented flyers.
At the risk of adding to the anthropomorphizing, at the end there it seems like AOM is have an “I have to get up early tomorrow” moment.
Hoping that something wonderful comes from it all.
“At the risk of adding to the anthropomorphizing”
Michael, that’s something else I couldn’t help doing in this post. I was cognizant of doing it the entire time I was writing it but I figured my readers would know that I didn’t mean it literally. I thought it was just fun.
It was fun. Appreciate your sense of humor.
Thanks. Sometimes it’s hard to know where to draw the line.
I’ll SAY “reluctant Lothario”– something more like performing his
duty……a great series of photos– congratulations ! Every time I see
–and hear described— the form of mating that birds practice, I can’t
help wondering how such a mechanically clumsy operation became
their norm over all these many eons–one would think that it would
have improved, become more efficient, or taken a more straightforward form. ?
I often wonder the same thing, Kris. A penis would have done the trick, but most birds never came up with one (ducks, geese, swans, ostriches and emus are exceptions).