It Must Be Love
At DCUK, we 're totally in love with the emotion of love. We really love watching the happiness it brings to people.
Our Garden Birds are particularly loving, and many of them have long term partners! But did you know, there are a handful of birds here in good old Blighty that actually mate for life?! With Valentine’s Day just around the corner, we thought we'd spread the love and share some of these dedicated lover-birds.
Why do birds mate for life?
Birds mate for life for a few reasons; love (obviously!) but some more practical reasons too. As many of us sadly know ourselves, finding a mate requires a lot of time (and energy). Migrating birds like swans are no different, so they opt to save their strength for the long journey ahead - before they even get around to the amorous part.
Some birds only produce one brood of chicks a year, and they take longer to incubate and grow. These birds who stay together are then ready to breed earlier in the season. As well as this, the more broods the parents raise together, the better they get at looking after them!
Barn Owls
We really love the mysterious Barn Owl, and it turns out they really love their partners too! Barn Owls mate for life (unless something unfortunate happens), and breed once a year.
They tend to lay around four to seven eggs, but this can rise up to as many as eleven! This loving pair tend to nest in a hollow trees, old buildings or in cliffs.
Magpies
You know how the song goes… one for sorrow, two for joy! Well it's definitely two for joy when it comes to Magpies. Magpies typically mate for life, and they join flocks in pairs.
Most Magpies lay eggs in the typical spring breeding season, which runs from late March until June or July - but the majority of eggs are laid in April!
Swans
When we think of animals that love each other, we often think of Swans. You always see them together in pairs. Swans will spend years, or even a lifetime, with one single mate.
Unfortunately though, Swan pairs often fall victim to breakups and adultery – so they might not be the best example to dwell on this Valentine's Day.
Eagles
The UK’s largest bird of prey, the White Tailed Eagle is a one mate lover forever. The White Tailed Eagles mate for life and breed in the same territory each year.
This territory can span up to 70km! We love that even birds this large find life-long pairs.
We like to think our Garden Bird cousins mate for life too, and are happily (ahem) ‘cooopled’ up with their lifelong partners!
Discover our own Garden Birds collection HERE.
Image Credits - Unsplash
Barn Owl - Andy Chilton
Magpie - lenstravelier
Swan - Nikola Bačanek
Eagle - Jonathan Kemper