Do birds fuck?...and other unrelated things..

Ok. The title is n't an allusion to anything else. This post is exactly about what the title says. 

And so, continuing from where I left off at the last post, after that encounter with tigers at Ranthambore and eating a truckload for breakfast, we set off to the Ranthambore fort. The fort is part of the Ranthambore National park. A bumpy ride through some not so dense forest took us to the really 'touristy' looking front gate of the fort. Guides jumped forward from all around offering to take us to secret passages which no one could ever reach. Braving this relentless assault, we started our way up the stairs. The fort looked more like a breeding ground for monkeys and a variety of birds.

And so, on a tree were sitting two parrots. Rest the pictures will tell…

courting...from a distance

Then they flew away and sat on a tree which had more branches and leaves

It all started with a kiss

and then some foreplay

and then he moved closer

and he's about to get on top..

self explanatory

self explanatory- 2

top gear

'climat'e change

                                                               some more lingering on top

"I hope no one has seen us"!

Ok.So at last I learned a lesson in biology, that birds do indeed 'fuck'. 

And, back home after going through the net, I realised that many people had actually asked this question. Copying one from answer.com- "how does the sperm from the male bird get into the female? How can they have intercourse without any external male organs, such as a penis? The male's sperm, produced in the testes, passes to the cloaca where it is stored until copulation (act of sex). The female also has a cloaca that leads from the ovaries. The female bird unfans her tail, moves it to one side while the male climbs up onto her back or gets close to her. Their cloacas are pressed together and the sperm moves from the male to the female. This act is called a cloacal kiss...The sperm is stored by the female for at least a week, in some species over a hundred days. Then as each ovum from the ovary moves into the oviduct, it gets fertilized with the stored sperm, producing a clutch of many eggs, all with the sperm from that one cloacal kiss."

I hope all your doubts on avian sex are cleared!

Some of the other stuff that we saw at the fort

He stays alone in a small mosque like structure amidst a few burial mounds...Light peeps in through small holes at the top of the building and pigeons keep on flying around him..

chasing my own tail 

Will Obama win in 2012?!

view through one of the small openings on the fort wall

battered...bruised..

Ra in a 'poser' mood :D