FOR 36 YEARS, BIOLOGIST IAN JONES has been studying the crested auklet (Aethia cristatella). The small seabirds flock in ocean waters between Siberia and Alaska. They nest in colonies on rocky coasts of remote islands. And each spring, they hold courtship displays that resemble rowdy, carnal swim parties. Jones, a professor at Memorial University in Newfoundland, has observed the birds’ eight-week breeding season: the sights, sounds, smells, and moves. In sum, he says, “it looks like some sort of 1960s-style love-in.”
When the snowmelt signals spring, crested auklet males of breeding age choose a courtship staging spot, and the flaunting begins. The males puff up their feathers, strut around, and flash their forward-curving crest (its size does matter to females, research has shown). They also make trumpeting, hooting, and yapping…