Homosexual Behavior in Male Canaries

[Sheather]

I've recently seen my two male canaries - Walter, an adult, and Weaver, his 3 month old offspring - mating several times. Weaver always takes the top position, with Walter following, by every behavior, the normal routine of a receptive hen, including the little 'mating song' during and after, and then the birds making cloacal contact and both taking turns feeding the other.

I know zebra finches are known for same-sex pair bonds and have been studied in this regard but I know of nothing discussing it in canaries, and I wouldn't have thought it likely due to the normal aggression between males in this species. But I guess I have a couple of birds who don't follow conjecture.

I'm all for it, as long as the two continue to get along well. They're completely best buddies so far.

Also is not three months rather young for a canary to begin mounting and courting? Although, this is the bird who was weaned at 4 weeks and started singing at 3...

I should note Walter is also paired to an adult hen right now who is trying to nest (but not good at it), and that she and Weaver regularly compete for Walter's attentions, not with aggressive territorial behavior but a sort of pushy sibling type rivalry (they both push eachother aside for feedings from Walter, for example). It's all quite weird. The other two hens just stay out of the love triangle entirely!

[lovezebs]

Sheather

This is quite common behavior in quite a few species.
I've seen it in Zebras, Societies, Red-eared Waxbills, Redbilled Fires, Parrott Finches, Canary/Society, Zebra /Society, Goldbreasts.....

I've often wondered, if they actually know the difference between male and female , or if they think that when they mate, sometimes you get eggs, and sometimes you don't.

~Elana~

[Sheather]

Interesting, I've never seen it in any of my other birds with the exception of dominance mounting in societies, but that doesn't involve copulation, only standing on the other bird.

[MiaCarter]

Wow, that's actually a good thing in the scheme of things could have easily gone the other direction and they could be fighting.

I've had some young canaries who've done this around this age. I don't recall the exact age. If I had to guess, I'd think it was a few weeks later, closer to 4 mo.

This mating-like behavior tends to be most common in species where the males are very dominant.
I think it's actually a cross-species sort of thing. Dogs do this too. The dominant males will assert their dominance by mounting others. (But no copulation; more similar to societies as you mentioned.)

I agree with Elana. I don't think many are all that good at determining gender. Most other species do it by smell. I believe birds primarily do it by sight, as evidenced by the bright colored plumage in males of gender dimorphic species. So it stands to reason that perhaps when there's no obvious gender dimorphism, it's more challenging to determine gender.

And I just think some birds/animals are just plain attracted to the same sex. My zebra Squeepers is attracted to males only. I've never seen him flirt with a girl, but he chases the boys (especially his dad, Molly Sue) trying to serenade, woo and mate with them.

Whatever floats their boat, I suppose. Squeepers bums me out as I'd love to breed him. He's so lovely. But he's never shown any interest in a girl (except his mum, but it's more platonic. He never flirts with her, more preening and cuddling.)

[Toddmin]

I have a hen who I'm convinced is a lesbian. I've tried pairing her with a handful of different males, but never is interested in them. She loves to build a nest and only wants to hang out with the hens. She is great with sitting on eggs, taking care of babies, and pairing with a hen, but never a male. She will even lay her eggs, just not with males.

[cindy]

this is just dominance/posturing.... not sure if it is because they prefer the same sex.

[GlennO]

I don't think many are all that good at determining gender.

That hasn't been my experience with canaries. My males often seem to know instinctively what gender their offspring are by the time that they have learnt to feed themselves, and perhaps earlier. I sometimes have to remove the young males before the females because they are being bullied and it provides me with a good indication of their gender even before I have heard them sing. The bullying is more likely if there is a second clutch under way.

I should add that I use breeding cages, and in an aviary the father may feel less intimidated by their presence if they remain further from the nest and the brooding female.

[debbie276]

Agree with Cindy, a dominance thing.

They have found with gouldians (as well as many other species) there are ultraviolet markings on them that tell all the other birds in the flock the sex, age, breeding potential and health of each bird. So birds know the sex of their flock better then us.

Here's a couple articles about it, including a study done on zebra finch:
http://bioscience.oxfordjournals.org/co ... 0/854.full
http://jeb.biologists.org/content/204/14/2499.full

[Sheather]

Dos not seem like dominance to me; both birds take turns feeding the other before and after. Walter also doesn't mind Weaver joining him at Kari's nest when he feeds her - Kari also tolerates him but pursues either other hen if they do the same.