The male cowbird does rather dramatic behavior to impress a female. He begins by sticking his beak in the air, then he fluffs his feathers and hunches his back with wings spread and head down. This female's beak is wide open, not sure if it was a WOW or an EEEEEK.
Here a mockingbird is in the mulberry tree in our backyard singing away madly for a mate. This is the first time in 8 years that we have had one in our yard.
The cardinal pair has been passing seeds as part of their courtship behavior for about a month now. I didn't quite get the beak touch, but got pretty close - it happens so fast.
The female bluebird perched patiently waiting for the male to arrive with food. He made several runs like this over a period of 10 minutes each morning for about a week during courtship.
The male bluebird quickly positions himself for the bug pass while the female shows that she is very eager. My guess is that she is pretending to be a baby to see how well dad will provide.
.... I have proved that I will do a good job feeding the babies when they arrive. This whole sequence of the male bluebird feeding the female took place in about 3 seconds.
