The Life History of Orange-headed Thrush

[Samrat Sarkar]

The female looks at "our male" nearby...

[Samrat Sarkar]

The male also recognized "our male", turned his head and flew away....

[Samrat Sarkar]

There are many complex differences between the way the female birds ask for food during courtship feeding, which is called begging behavior. It is important to note whether the female bird has its beak open during begging. If the beak is open and the body is compressed downwards, it can be assumed that the female bird is really ready to receive food from the male. Whether the male will transfer the food or not is another question if I look at the matter from the female bird's perspective. If the female compresses her body downward but does not open her lips, it can be assumed that she is not fully ready to receive food from the male. There could be many reasons why she is not ready. The main reasons are:

1. There may be another female or male nearby, or there may be another bird.

2. There may be a predator.

During courtship feeding, the process of the male feeding the female is a very delicate and intimate moment. During this time, both are intensely connected, busy, and helpless. At that time, a predator or another bird or another male or female may attack them. Usually, the first step of begging is for the female to compress her body downwards and then open her beak to ask for food from the male.

In this observation, the female bird, after compressing her body downwards, sees that “our male” is nearby. And he is ready to attack them. So the female bird did not open her beak. The male also turned his face in the other direction and flew away, leaving the courtship feeding incomplete.

In other words, whether the female bird is opening her beak or not is very important in courtship feeding.