Both male and female homosexual pairs also occur in Orange-fronted Parakeets. Same-sex couples often sit side by side—sometimes for half an hour or more at a time—preening and nuzzling each other while fluffing their plumage. Males also sometimes engage in sexual behavior with their pair-mate: one bird mounts the other, usually preceded by a display known as FAWNING or CLAWING, in which he lifts one foot in the air and places it gently on the other male’s back or wing. Female partners often COURTSHIP-FEED each other: one bird regurgitates some food and feeds it to her mate, and the two partners interlock their bills while jerking their heads back and forth. Unlike in heterosexual pairs, either bird may feed the other. This is usually accompanied by several stylized visual and vocal displays such as head-bobbing, rubbing or kneading of the bill on the branch (often producing a distinctive popping sound), fluffing of the cheek feathers, and flashing the iris of the eyes while whistling. The two mates sometimes play-fight with one another by BILL-SPARRING, in which they grasp and tug at each other’s beak. Female pairs may also jointly prepare a nest, usually constructed in arboreal termite nests: one partner excavates the entrance tunnel (as do males in heterosexual pairs) while the other hollows out the nest chamber (as do females in heterosexual pairs). Some female couples successfully compete against heterosexual pairs for nesting sites; pair-bonded females often become powerful allies that support one another and may even come to dominate opposite-sex pairs through attacks and threat behavior.
Nonreproductive and Alternative Heterosexualities
Although most heterosexual bonds in Galahs are lifelong and between only two birds, several other variations occur: some birds form polygamous trios (as discussed above), while 6–10 percent of Galahs divorce their partners and seek new mates. Infidelity in the form of copulations by paired Galahs with birds other than their mate is common, especially during the incubation period. Sometimes a mated pair changes partners after their eggs have been laid, usually resulting in loss of the eggs (accounting for about 2 percent of all clutches that fail to hatch). In addition, parenting in this species is not confined to a strictly nuclear-family structure: youngsters from several different families are pooled together into a CRECHE or “day-care” flock as soon as they are old enough to leave the nest. This allows their parents to forage on their own (although a few tending parents are always on hand in the creche). Youngsters spend nearly as much time in these creches as they do being cared for solely by their parents in the nest. Sometimes two pairs share the same nest hollow, with both females laying eggs in a combined clutch.
Although divorce and alternative bonding arrangements are not as prominent among Lovebirds, there is nevertheless often considerable antagonism between the sexes in heterosexual pairs. Males tend to become sexually ready each season before females; as a result, their courtship advances are frequently ignored or rejected, and females may even respond with overt aggression. Heterosexual copulations often do not culminate in ejaculation because the female refuses to allow the male to remain mounted, walking or flying out from under him while making threatening displays at him. A similar asynchrony in male and female sexual cycles may also occur in Galahs: in some years, males become ready to mate before females, but by the time the latter are ready, the males often lose interest and many pairs end up not breeding at all. Besides pairs that do not reproduce in a particular year, there is always a sizable proportion of single birds. As many as 60 percent of the adult Galahs in foraging flocks are nonbreeding birds from the nomadic population. Sometimes a nonbreeding female associates regularly with a breeding pair, “tagging along” with the male when he leaves the nest (perhaps in the hope of pairing with him). Such birds are known as “aunts” even though they are probably not related to the birds they associate with.
When a female Lovebird does consent to mate, nonreproductive REVERSE mounts may occur: as a part of courtship, males sometimes solicit females, who briefly mount them the way a male would. Other forms of nonprocreative sexual behavior also take place. Both Lovebirds and Galahs form pair-bonds as juveniles, long before they begin to reproduce—Galahs, in fact, may commence pairing and copulation up to three years before they can breed. In addition, some of the mating activity among younger Galahs involves birds mounting and thrusting against their partner’s head rather than the genital region. Among adults, at least 12 percent of all copulations occur well before fertilization is possible (four to five weeks prior to egg laying).
Other Species
Homosexual pairs occur in several Parrot species related to these, including Masked Lovebirds (
Arrowood, P. C. (1991) “Male-Male, Female-Female, and Male-Female Interactions Within Captive Canary- winged Parakeet
