How do birds mate? Pictures of dove (pigeon family) mating

"How do birds mate?" is a question that many of us have pondered about. After all, we don't see organs dangling below male birds, do we"How do birds mate?" is a question that many of us have pondered about. After all, we don't see organs dangling below male birds, do we? Jokes aside, birds mate by joining at their cloaca so that the sperm of the male bird can go from his cloaca to the female's. Confused? Here's a quick overview on how birds reproduce, have sex or mate with some great amateur pictures.

Bird anatomy – The cloaca

The cloaca is an opening in a bird's posterior that is used for excretion and reproduction. The cloaca is also known as a vent or referred to as the vent area. Bird species in which males and females both have a cloaca, reproduction is achieved when a male and female rub and connect at each other's cloaca. This momentary rub allows for transfer of sperm from the male bird to the female. Males of certain bird species have a phallus, or in other words, a penis. Below is a picture of an exposed cloaca of a bird known as the Babbler.

Pictures of birds mating

This mating session began with the birds engaging in what seemed like a tussle as they jumped from one wire to another. For those of you wondering, these wires are overhead electricity cables.

The female bird temporarily flew away but the male adamantly followed. It seemed as if the female could not say no to the male. Talk about similarities between birds and humans! The picture below was when the female momentarily flew away. Although not in the frame, you can almost see the cloaca of one of the dove (pigeon family).

However the female did not fly too far and came back to the wires. The temporary tussle began again. There was constant flapping of wings and it appeared as if the two seemed to be a bit confused and even flew into each other as seen in the picture below.

For a moment, the flapping of wings and the tussle stopped, and it seemed as it things were back to normal. Both the dove (pigeon family) momentarily perched on the overhead electricity cables again. They inched towards each other, and what looked liked almost a happy ending led to another tussle, pictured below.

This mid-air tussle between the two birds did not last too long and both doves (pigeon family) gracefully took positions, yet again on the overhead electricity cables.

Assuming that the one on top was the male dove (pigeon), he rested on top of the female and mating began. The picture perfect moment of birds mating did not last too long. As quickly as it started, it finished. Luckily, a picture of the birds mating was captured just in time.

As soon as the mating session finished, the male dove (pigeon) calmly flew away and found a comfortable spot on a nearby tree. The female was still momentary perched on the cables, only to fly away a few moments later.