It's supposedly a "rare" thing to see. Our bigger birds both exhibit what a scientist would probably refer to as "sexual display" behaviors, and the lovebird spends a great deal of time masturbating (loudly! often amusingly!), but neither has a mate. I suppose, based on the way they act now, that they'd probably get busy with a partner in front of us, but I'd always assumed otherwise, as most paired birds (in zoos, at our bird-sitter's aviary) really do like privacy.

Because of the way they're built, birds have to contort themselves in a manner that seems - on paper, as well as during the one brief occasion I glimpsed it happening in the "wild" - awkward and thus almost necessarily fleeting. Apparently, the several years that Berry and Iris have spent together have allowed them to become almost embarassingly adept.

In light of what I'd just been saying to Mr. G, I'm a little bit delighted and a little bit creeped out by the timing of their carnal display.