Gail Patricelli Quotations

There are the males that never give intense displays; they just kind of ... don't have it. Then there are the males that are too intense too soon before the female is ready, so those are the males that don't know how to use it.

We want to know more about how animals communicate, and we know during these elaborate courtships, the male is basically saying, 'Mate with me.' But he also needs to know how to respond to the female, to interact with her.

So the most appealing, successful males are the ones who give really high intensity, aggressive displays without threatening the female. They observe female behaviors and they increase their intensity as the female signals that she's comfortable, without being intense too soon.

He struts and dances in front of the female, puffs up his feathers to make himself look larger, and runs back and forth flipping his wings and making a loud buzzing sound.