I happened upon some birds having sex today. It was really weird

>>2369540
Smell and sounds are indicators of sex in species when there is no visible sexual dimorphism

you are, in fact, just being a racist. Might as well say all Chinese people look alike

>>2369540
songs you dummy. why do you think they are songbirds?

>>2369565
But they all sound the same too.

Bird eyesight is different from human vision.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g9FrtZtR4-E
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XeMiJgSpJxc
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RUmLUwSc-fA

You mentioned chickadees; they're among the species where males and females look different in UV light.

Various factors. Lack of suitable/complete lack of opposite-sex partners, looks, smells, signals, behaviors, specific animals are into one thing and one thing only, etc.

Homosexual and masturbatory tendencies(non-reproductive sexual behavior) has been seen in thousands of species. Like humans, sometimes you just have to get your rocks off. You can say that just feeling horny is a 'must mate' response so technically it wouldn't be 'non-reproductive' sexual behavior but some animals use it as a way of socializing and bonding as well.
Bonobo chimps are extremely promiscuous and use sexual behavior over fighting, as an olive branch of peace to calm/comfort/bond with others from the old to not yet sexually mature individuals. It feels good do, makes you feel good and in more advanced and social animals like primates and cetaceans it keeps a consist social bond.

Some primates and some species of penguin also prostitute themselves in exchange for something like food. The females being the ones seeming to offer themselves up for it.

Then on the other hand, seals will rape penguins, ducks with rape the corpses of other ducks they drowned trying to rape them, dogs hump pillows, moose try to mate with statues, birds may rub their vents against something to stimulate themselves, male animals will mount other male animals(sometimes females do the mounting as well), etc.

The death-rape seals are usually young adult males that don't have access to females dominant males have.

Some male hawks like marsh harriers not only have developed 'female coloration' but also mimic females by being less aggressive; they end up being more successful than normal males because their coloration gave them easier access to the females since they were less likely to be attacked by other males when they thought they're females.

File: ruff.jpg (54KB, 750x415px) Image search: [Google]

54KB, 750x415px

>>2369597
They tested it with decoys and just by looking, the 'male-colored' male decoys were attacked far more often and far more aggressively than that of the female-colored male decoys. Even if the normal males are able to figure them out by sight/find out eventually in general, it's also been suggested that the average males see a benefit of having less aggressive male neighbors since it means they wouldn't have to - or as hard - defend their territories.

Simarily, Ruffs(philomachus pugnax) have a variation of males that take that even further.
>The ruff is one of the few lekking species in which the display is primarily directed at other males rather than to the females, and it is among the small percentage of birds in which the males have well-marked and inherited variations in plumage and mating behaviour.
>There are three male forms: the typical territorial males, satellite males which have a white neck ruff, and a very rare variant with female-like plumage. The behaviour and appearance for an individual male remain constant through its adult life, and are determined by its genes.
>The territorial males, about 84% of the total, have strongly coloured black or chestnut ruffs and stake out and occupy small mating territories in the lek. They actively court females and display a high degree of aggression towards other resident males.

>>2369599
>Satellite males, about 16% of the total number, have white or mottled ruffs and do not occupy territories; they enter leks and attempt to mate with the females visiting the territories occupied by the resident males.[32] Resident males tolerate the satellite birds because, although they are competitors for mating with the females, the presence of both types of male on a territory attracts additional females.
>Although satellite males are on average slightly smaller and lighter than residents, the nutrition of the chicks does not, as previously thought, influence mating strategy; rather, the inherited mating strategy influences body size. Resident-type chicks will, if provided with the same amount of food, grow heavier than satellite-type chicks. Satellite males do not have to expend energy to defend a territory, and can spend more time foraging, so they do not need to be as bulky as the residents; indeed, since they fly more, there would be a physiological cost to additional weight.
>A third type of male was first described in 2006; this is a permanent female mimic, the first such reported for a bird. About 1% of males are small, intermediate in size between males and females, and do not grow the elaborate breeding plumage of the territorial and satellite males, although they have much larger internal testes than the ruffed males. This cryptic male, or "faeder" (Old English "father") obtains access to mating territories together with the females, and "steals" matings when the females crouch to solicit copulation.[10]

>>2369597
Speaking of birds adopting female coloration, isn't there a species of bird who adopts the same strategy, but instead ends up shaking up with other male birds and sometimes will end up being the one to mount the male-colored male?

>>2369602
>The faeder moults into the prenuptial male plumage with striped feathers, but does not go on to develop the ornamental feathers of the normal male. As described above, this stage is thought to show the original male breeding plumage, before other male types evolved. A faeder can be distinguished in the hand by its wing length, which is intermediate between those of displaying males and females. Despite their feminine appearance, the faeders migrate with the larger 'normal' lekking males and spend the winter with them.
>The faeders are sometimes mounted by independent or satellite males, but are as often "on top" in homosexual mountings as the ruffed males, suggesting that their true identity is known by the other males. Females often seem to prefer mating with faeders to copulation with normal males, and normal males also copulate with faeders (and vice versa) relatively more often than with females. The homosexual copulations may attract females to the lek, like the presence of satellite males.

On the opposite end with female birds mimicking males
https://phys.org/news/2009-12-female-birds-guys-sexual.html

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ruff
>>2369603
Yes, that's what I'm posting right now.

>>2369604
Guess women liking gay men isn't just a human meme

>>2369604
In regards to my earlier comment on ' specific animals are into one thing and one thing only' in a visual display; I have mostly bird examples since sexual dimorphism for them tends to not only be about being the biggest and baddass and many have very different and elaborate courtship rituals.

Like this guy here. He might not even be good enough for a female to want him because she may not like his dance or song. I imagine the way males may look/sing/dance/show off their nests to them is their way of telling who is a good, healthy, dedicated mate or not in stead of having males duke it out with each other like a male lion getting almost immediately all the pussy of a pride he took over from the previous male. There's thousands of variations of that for birds and in swans, waterfowl, cranes, where plumage isn't as important to them as it would be for pheasants, birds of paradise, peacocks,etc it tends to be more of a mutual agreement when choosing a mate.

Both will start to display to each other, dance and jump around. The male or female may give up if one or the other decides it wasn't good enough. It could because one wasn't experienced enough therefore it sucked, or one took at the other wasn't suitable in health/behavior to invest a nest and chicks with. Or a combination of the two. I'm trying to be vague and 'catch all' since it varies from species to species so much.

Birds like that(that also tend to stick to breeding with each other year after year) also commonly include homosexual male pairs even if there were females around to chose from.

>>2369626
Swans are a good example, black swans I believe mostly. They have a high number of gay swans which is like 30-40%. Whether or not there are elusively gay-only ones(same sex male pairs will commonly mate with a female, then kick her the fuck out of the nest when she lays the eggs so they can raise it as their own) that:
>1) are truly sexually attracted to other male swans because they are males
>2) are all swans be 'bisexual' in a way that they 'fall in love' with each other's personalities/displays/behavior over preferring one sex over or are they more commonly younger/less experienced males(or even very experienced males that lost their mate, left her because she wasn't providing the babies since bird pairs commonly split up when no eggs are happening. or fuck all that, they exhibit extra-pair copulation often anyway where they have all three raising the young)
>3) can their tiny swan brains comprehend and realize they have added benefits in that the chances are if they do steal eggs to hatch on their own, they know they'll have better success raising them as gay swans

I have no idea as I don't like to over romanticize animal behavior, especially when half of this could just be 'im horny and will fuck anything'.While the male swans cant reproduce on their own, they will steal eggs/nests and mate with females until she provides eggs before they chase her off. I don't know if gay swans adopt or try to steal cygnets but gay swans have benefits over females when raising young since where two male swans protecting their young is much stronger, aggressive and territorial about it.

>>2369634
There's still way more to all of this but since I already forgot what point I was trying to make at first, I'm just going to leave you with some wiki links OP. You''ll find what specifics you're looking for eventually.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homosexual_behavior_in_animals
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Animal_sexual_behaviour
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Non-reproductive_sexual_behavior_in_animals
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Necrophilia#Other_animals
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Courtship_display
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monogamy_in_animals
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monogamy#Varieties_of_monogamy_in_biology
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mallard#Breeding
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bonobo#Sexual_social_behavior
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dolphin#Reproduction_and_sexuality

>>2369597
>Some male hawks like marsh harriers not only have developed 'female coloration' but also mimic females by being less aggressive; they end up being more successful than normal males because their coloration gave them easier access to the females since they were less likely to be attacked by other males when they thought they're females.

numales: the bird

>>2369540
How do you question this shit when there are birds like the pengins that can recognize their chicks in the middle of hundreds of other similar looking chicks just by their sound?

You're one massive fucking retard. Don't come to this board ever again.

>>2369540
>racist

SPECIST, unless you are another bird poecile and are posting on /an/.