I've had a few responses to the posting about recent Azure Kingfisher
behaviour.
Mike Tarburton observed that "bird hormones, triggered by day length, rain,
sun etc, can cause breeding behaviour and even breeding just before the
shortest days as well as just after. This is particularly true in some
species."
I note too that Graham Pizzey felt that another option was territorial
behaviour.
>From what I've seen here before, I'm inclined to go with the unseasonal
courtship option, given particularly that what happened the other day was
very much a subset of the longer and more complex behaviour that we have
observed in the spring, which also incorporated what seemed to us to be some
quite 'companionable' elements.
Perhaps the concept underlying what we see as 'unseasonal' behaviour is that
with birds, as with humans, courtship (and even coition) does not always
lead to nesting - and under certain hormonally-driven circumstances can
occur spontaneously at almost any time, without necessarily being part of
any bigger plan.
Bill Jolly
"Abberton",
Lockyer Valley, Queensland.
Visit our website at http://www.abberton.org <http://www.abberton.org/>
Email: <>
Ph: (+61) 7 4697 6111 Fax: (+61) 7 4697 6056
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