Cursory mating in Dunnocks

[Cotham Marble]

According to this BTO article Dunnock Dunnocks have a highly variable approach to mating arrangements, however in the simple male/female arrangment of my local pair there's not much evidence of the male having to do much to impress the female - at last not on the basis of my observation yesterday.

I should start off by saying that I've only ever seen dunnocks singly so to see a pair land and start feeding ouside my kitchen window was very welcome.

After a few seconds of shuffling around and pecking at the feed scattered at the base of a hedge, the male (still on the ground) began singing, then took on a crouched stance, fluffed up his wing feathers and did a sort of, on the spot dance, for few more seconds followed by which the pair achieved what appeared to be an off the ground copulation, followed by a brief aerial chase around and an even briefer return to the ground to gain some composure, and then both birds were gone.

I assume what I saw was merely a small part of a sustained bonding process, but lyre birds these guys are not. Anyway what I take to be the same pair were back this morning, this time more intent on feeding with absolutely no 'public displays of affection'.

CM