The Life of Birds — S01E07 — Finding Partners

00:01:07 This lava gull in the Galapagos,

00:03:16 Tear that and its owner won't be able to attract anyone.

00:05:08 Their first routines involve repeating one another's movements.

00:08:47 What follows may seem like dueling...

00:10:35 Well, the answer is...there.

00:11:43 It is the staple diet for hummingbirds, and Jamaica has many different species of them.

00:13:19 The male streamer-tail waits for them to call.

00:15:12 She clearly doesn't think much of this one.

00:16:59 He has a passion for interior decoration.

00:18:37 and beauty can be found not only in jewels but in costumes.

00:21:24 But the widow-bird displays by flying with his.

00:23:41 More and more females arrive.

00:26:57 Birds can get very badly injured in battles like these and even die from their wounds,

00:29:31 The top male, with, presumably, the best voice,

00:31:45 The males assemble in groups of a dozen or so, perching low down on lianas,

00:34:07 but the price of doing so is that only one or two males will make a sale.

00:35:54 She will then fly away

00:37:48 She leaves,

00:39:08 when you see two brighter birds fighting in front of a duller colored one.

00:40:36 at least during the breeding season.

00:42:34 But she has got her eye cocked.

00:44:12 or, at any rate, most of them.

00:46:27 So the female fairy wren

00:48:03 as we will see in the next programme in The Life of Birds.