As the snow melts away, and the green sprouts of spring begin to appear, the sounds of new life in Michigan are soon to follow. Most of these sounds come from the thousands of birds that have just returned north from their long journeys or migrations north. To birds like the Ruby-throated Hummingbird, spring means a March or April flight all the way from the Yucatan peninsula, across the Gulf of Mexico, and up the entire width of the United States. Each different species of bird throughout the world has it s own unique method of courtship , or finding a mate. These behaviors are instinctual, meaning that birds are born knowing exactly how to perform them.
Male sparrows attract a mate simply by singing a mating call, and waiting for a female to fly by.
For other birds though, courtship is a very lengthy and complicated process. Each spring, Great crested grebes dance with one another before they mate. To start off the dance, the birds face one another, and swing their heads from side to side. Then, they suddenly jump away from one another and dive deep into the water. When the grebes reappear at the surface of the water, their beaks are full with waterweeds.