Ospreys Courting & Copulating
Ospreys have returned to their breeding grounds in New England, where both courtship and copulation is taking place. The males engage in an undulating courtship display flight high over the nest site, often with fish or nesting material clutched in their dangling legs while they repeatedly issue forth screaming calls. This can go on for up to ten minutes or so before they descend to the nest. In addition, “courtship feeding” often takes place with the male providing his mate with food, often just prior to breeding.
Although an osprey pair copulates frequently (an average of 160 times per clutch), nearly half the time there is no cloacal contact. Most of the breeding takes place at or near the nest site. (Note the protective positioning of the male’s toes and talons as he mounts his mate.)
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Avian Evacuation
To start with the basics, both the excretory anatomy and the consistency of bird droppings are different from those of most mammals. Birds have one opening, a cloaca, which serves as their intestinal, reproductive and urinary tract. Everything from mating and laying eggs to voiding waste takes place via the cloaca.
Instead of releasing waste as urea dissolved in urine, as we do, birds excrete it in the form of uric acid, which is the white liquid we associate with bird droppings. Why is it white instead of brown? This is due to the biochemical reactions that take place in processing the waste so it can be safely excreted with minimal water loss.
If you look carefully at a bird’s droppings, you’ll usually find a small dark solid blob amongst all the white uric acid. Both acid and solid waste are evacuated from the same opening at the same time. Because they come from two different bodily systems, they don’t have much time to blend.
Most people are not great fans of bird droppings due to the damage (and mess) they can cause. However, some ingenious soul took advantage of this property and concocted a skin exfoliator for sale that consists of nightingale droppings, water and rice bran.
(This post is dedicated to my sister who didn’t quite believe I would actually write a post about this subject much less use this Snowy Owl photograph.)
Spotted Salamander Spermatophores
After male spotted salamanders emerge from hibernation and arrive at their ancestral breeding (vernal) pools, they cluster in groups called congresses, await the arrival of females, pair up with one and then the pair performs a courtship dance.
Unlike some species of amphibians, the male spotted salamander does not fertilize the eggs as the female lays them. Rather, she collects his sperm into her body and internal fertilization takes place. When the female is sufficiently stimulated, the male deposits up to 80 spermatophores (pyramid-shaped plugs of mucus with a sperm capsule at the top), often on a submerged branch. The male maximizes the chances of insemination by depositing many scattered spermatophores, covering every spermatophore he encounters, even his own, with a new spermatophore. In so doing, he increases his spermatophore count, while simultaneously eliminating a rival’s spermatorphores. The female then crawls over a spermatophore and positions her vent, or cloaca, so as to allow the lips of her cloaca to detach the sperm capsule.
Within a short period of time the salamanders retreat back to the woods, rarely to be glimpsed until next spring’s breeding season. (Photo: spotted salamander spermatorphores, with sperm capsule missing on far left spermatophore)
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