iN PHOTOS: Love is in the air for birds in Kamloops, Okanagan

It's spring and that means means mating season in the bird world. Many wild male birds are dancing, calling and strutting their stuff to attract females to mate with. Sometimes it is a matter of a fancy flash of feathers while at other times it becomes a full-on claws out fight for territory. Ducks have fascinating mating rituals that combine courtship displays and vocalizations. The males show off their vibrant feathers, bob their heads and make unique calls and the females gesture back or keep searching for a partner, according to BirdHelpful.com https://birdhelpful.com/how-do-ducks-mate/ . Males produce deeper, rhythmic quacks to signal their interest while females may emit a series of quacks in response. For some species of ducks, the males do water dances to catch a female's eye, repeatedly dipping their bills into the water to make ripples. Grouse put on stunning courtship displays in the spring with leaps and glides and vocalizations. Five species of grassland grouse in North America gather in groups called leks on open areas of ground, where the males perform for the females, according to All About Birds https://www.allaboutbirds.org/news/dancers-of-spring-displaying-grouse-are-a-must-see-spectacle/ . Sharp-tailed grouse fight each other for territory and breeding rights, and when they dance, they spread their wings, lower their head and point their tails upward. They will inflate their throat sacs, rattle their tails and utter a variety of sounds. Male mountain bluebirds migrate north before the females to search out good nesting sites in cavities in trees, bird houses or nooks and crannies of machinery in order to win one over. He will sing to passing females and wave his wings or go in and out of the nesting site over and over, according to Bluebird Trails https://bluebirdtrails.org/mountain-bluebird . Sometimes male bluebirds offer pieces of food or nesting material to the females, or preen a potential mate. READ MORE: iN PHOTOS: Whimsical figurines decorate this 'Shire' on a Kamloops hiking trail https://infotel.ca/newsitem/in-photos-whimsical-figurines-decorate-this-shire-on-a-kamloops-hiking-trail/it104208 The female will inspect the nesting site and territory and if she approves will enter the nest site. Wildlife mating rituals can be fascinating to watch, if you have any photos of mating rituals in your neighbourhood, please send them to news@infonews.ca mailto:news@infonews.ca . To contact a reporter for this story, email Shannon Ainslie mailto:sainslie@infonews.ca  or call 250-819-6089 or email the editor mailto:news@infonews.ca . You can also submit photos, videos or news tips to the newsroom mailto:tips@infonews.ca  and be entered to win a monthly prize draw. We welcome your comments and opinions on our stories but play nice. We won't censor or delete comments unless they contain off-topic statements or links, unnecessary vulgarity, false facts, spam or obviously fake profiles. If you have any concerns about what you see in comments, email the editor in the link above. SUBSCRIBE to our awesome newsletter here https://infotel.ca/newsletter .