Bird 60

Bird 60 "Blanca"
Gender: Female
Birth date: Unknown (from older group)
Preferred Partner: Grey (Bird 50)

When the birds are loose, it is a common sight to see them mating. If I stay in the room for more than about five minutes, I become a fixture and they stop paying attention to me and go about their business.

The first step that I see in their mating is a sort of half growl/half coo that is very loud and rhythmic. At first I thought only the females did it, but I have seen males do it now. Then the male may follow the female around for a little while. When she stands still he will stand up tall and fluff his neck feathers. He will also fan his tail feathers and lower them to the ground while coo/grunting more softly than before. At some point, the female puts her beak inside the male's open beak. It's called "billing" and it seems like the equivalent of kissing to me, but there may be some other function to it that I don't know about yet. I have seen birds bill and then not mate. But, generally, after billing a few times, the female will take a few more steps and then sit down. The male hops onto her back and you know the rest of the story. Its all very quick.

I mention this in Blanca's entry because I saw her and Grey mating today. They are fairly active maters, but I rarely see Blanca with an egg - despite building a few very nice nests like the one above. I wonder if she is getting too old to produce eggs.