Audubon Magazine Winter 2025 Bird Behavior

Watch For These Early-Bird Mating Displays This Winter

Not every species waits until spring to start wooing their partners.
A male and female mallard swim next to each other with their heads lowered.
Courting Mallards nod-swim together. Photo: Pysto Photography/Shutterstock
By Zoe Grueskin
Associate Editor, Audubon magazine
Published Winter 2025
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Aside from the cold and darkness, a long winter can wear on birders eager for the excitement of spring, when avians are their loudest and most colorful all for the sake of winning a mate. But not all birds wait for warmer weather to start their courtship—and you don't have to wait to see them wooing. This winter, look out for these courtship displays underway by Valentine’s Day.

Amorous Anna’s

A male Anna’s Hummingbird may seek to win a female’s favor with dramatic diving, hovering, and “shuttling” back and forth above his would-be paramour. He’ll do his best to perform facing the sun, to better flash his fuchsia gorget. 

Acrobatic Eagles

When Bald Eagles pair up, they take the plunge—literally—locking talons high in the air and tumbling toward the ground, letting go just before impact in a thrilling display known as cartwheeling. Mates may also chase each other, rolling and diving.

Harmonic Hooters

After sunset or just before dawn, listen for Great Horned Owls singing a duet. The female is larger than her mate, but her syrinx, or voice box, is smaller. You can recognize her by her higher-pitched hoots.

Dancing Ducks 

Mallard drakes take their best moves to the water, striving to stand out from the crowd with manuevers like the head-flick, nod-swim, and swim-shake. Hens encourage their suitors with head bobs and bill jabs. Other ducks add their own flair: Hooded Mergansers fan their crests and croak, while Red-breasted Mergansers favor the “salute-curtsy,” and Common Goldeneyes pull off a dramatic head-throw-kick.

Whirling Woodcocks

In the southern end of their breeding range, from Missouri to Maryland, American Woodcocks may begin their swirling, spellbinding sky dances by mid-February, lifting off after dark from open areas at the edge of scrubby woods. Listen for their nasally “peent” call to start the show.

This story originally ran in the Winter 2025 issue as “Courting in the Cold.” To receive our print magazine, become a member by making a donation today.