Here's what happened: I started researching gay birds, and I couldn't stop. Then came the acronym (thanks brain!)
And wow let me tell you the birds, they are gay. How gay? Gayer than you could possibly imagine. So funny some people think homosexuality is "unnatural." Keep scrolling down if you'd like to learn more, because I will tell you what I know about every one of these birds!
Also, since I am not a gay bird, I'm donating a portion of each sale to my favourite local LGBTQ charities, and also some to Calgary Wildlife Rehab, which helps a lot of really nice birds.
Available in 8"x10", 11"x14", or 16”x20” prints.
The two smaller sizes are printed by me on heavyweight matte paper using archival pigment-based inks. 16x20 is too big for my fine art printer, so I outsource them, but they’re the same archival quality. What this all means: they're high quality prints that will last for 100 years or so without fading.
NOW: Gay Birds
First, about 130 species of birds have been documented as displaying some same-sex sexual behaviour (they literally call it “SSSB”). For sure there is SO much more, the Guardian has reported on just how under-reported animal homosexual behaviour is. So this print barely scratches the surface, and the info below is very much cursory.
So let's learn about these birds!
Mallard: see how their head is only half green? That's because this cutie is intersex. Mallards are such a common bird in North America, and have such a distinct look that most folks can identify, so I think it's extra special that these beautiful ducks are swimming around out there, showing that it's not just humans that come in beautiful varieties.
Northern Cardinal and Green Honey Creeper: speaking of beautiful varieties, these are two of my favourites. Like the mallard, they posses both male and female sex characteristics, but they're split right down the middle. It's called a bilateral gynandromorphism. And it’s gorgeous!
Here's a bit more info about bilateral gynandromorphism: https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/this-extremely-rare-bird-is-half-female-half-male-180983442/
Greylag Goose: one of the gayest birds around. As many as 20% of greylag geese form long term homosexual partnerships. And they do literally everything the straights do. Sometimes a male-male pair will invite a lady to form a thruple, and the three of them will raise some little goslings together. It's all very lovely.
Chinstrap Penguins: there is no shortage of gay penguins. My choice here was partially inspired by the Gay Penguin Dads Rory and Silo at the Central Park Zoo
Western Seagull: before 1977, there had been no contemporary published studies on homosexuality in animals (one report by George Murray Levick in 1912 observing Adélie penguins in Antarctica had been suppressed, and one I'll mention further down briefly mentioning woodpeckers in India in the 60s didn't ruffle feathers somehow). Enter: Lesbian Seagull Island. It was the first widespread evidence that queerness wasn't just something icky humans did. No, it was as comman and natural as stealing french fries. There's even an incredibly tender song called "Lesbian Seagull" that you can find sung by Englebert Humperdink, or even in the film Beavis and Butthead Do America.
More info: https://www.lgbtqnation.com/2024/05/the-story-behind-lesbian-seagull-a-song-of-love-and-controversy/
Chickens: when I was working on this drawing, I kept falling down a couple rabbit holes. One was reading people who owned chickens talking about their hens' hilarious lesbian behaviour. Some hens will also develop traditionally rooster-like traits, becoming dominant around the coop. They'll crow, they'll mount the other ladies, they'll fight their way to the top of the pecking order.
Here's one story about a hen's journey to roosterdom: https://www.hobbyfarms.com/help-my-hen-thinks-shes-a-rooster/
Magpies, Zebra Finches: the classic bird SSSB stuff. Courtship behaviours, mounting, long term monogomy.
Pigeons: pigeon ladies are really sweet. They'll lay infertile eggs and care for them together. Or if a male-male or female-female couple can find a donor, the monogomous couple will raise the chicks together. Actually the oldest written record of homosexuality in animals is about pigeons, partridges, and quails, written by Aristotle in History of Animals 2,300 years ago. Aristotle says that pigeon hens mount each other if no male is present, prompting them to lay more ‘wind eggs’ (infertile eggs) than if they had been impregnated.
Get nerdy: https://academic.oup.com/zoolinnean/article/195/1/1/6568055
Black Swan: Up to a quarter of black swan couples are boys. They're not exactly polite, they steal nests instead of calling the adoption agency. But this bullying works, their cygnets (babies) are more likely to survive than ones with hetero parents.
Chilean Flamingo: first, sorry I forgot to write the species of flamingo I drew! Though SSSB isn't quite as prevalent with flamingos as it is with black swans, flamingo chicks also tend to fare better with gay dads than with other parents, probably again due to their tough guy attitudes.
Black-Rumped Flameback: I admit I included this cutie entirely because I liked his name. There is only one instance I can find of SSSB, and it was in The Journal of the Bombay Natural History Society in 1966. A bit obscure, but it's in there!
Blue Tit: another great name. Another great bird. Tit ladies are aggressive and can be territorial as heck, making a hissing sound to keep outsiders away. And yet these birds can engage in polyamory, or more accurately polygyny, where the male blue tit has multiple female partners. Which sounds a bit skeezy, but he works hard to care for all his partners, and these unconventional families seem to work for them. They've also shown other homosexual behaviour, but every article that mentions it is an academic article that those of us outside academia are blocked from reading. Dang it!
Guianan Cock-of-the-Rock: almost 40% of the males of these bright beauties will take part in some sort of same-sex l fun (Wikipedia, where this all started, literally says they "delight in homosexuality", so thanks to whoever wrote that). Plenty of them have no interest in ladies at all. And I have a feeling the ladies are perfectly fine with that.
Mealy Amazon Parrot and Budgie: I had a couple birds when I was a kiddo, and I indulged myself by drawing one of them, Charlie, as the blue budgie. Anyway! The whole parrot family! It's bananas gay and very horny! Whether domesticated or wild (but probably especially domesticated, just go search on Reddit for "I think my [insert type of parrot] is gay" and you'll get a thousand anecdotes about gay parrots). Parrots are living pride month all year long. That rainbow plumage is no accident.
Ostrich: what's extra fun about gay ostriches is that their elaborate courtship display gets transferred to a same sex partner. One ostrich engages in "kantling" (the courtship dance) to another by crouching, wing waggling, fluffling feathers all around, and then running at each other. It's bizarre and magical.
If you want to see a video of (hetero) ostrich kantling, why not listen to David Attenborough while you do it.
Caspian Tern: it's mostly female couples getting together. They'll mate with a male, then be like "byeeee," going back to raise her family with her monogamous female partner. Good for her.
Since this is not an academic account, I wasn't keeping track of my sources. I'm sorry! I now wish I had! Some of them are linked. Some of them were following the footnotes in Wikipedia. Most should be easy. I'll put any more below if I retrace some of my steps.
https://www.nhm.ac.uk/discover/gay-natural-history.html
https://www.cbc.ca/radio/asithappens/flamingo-dads-1.7342111
https://australian.museum/inside-out/pride-light/birds/
https://www.nwf.org/Magazines/National-Wildlife/2023/Summer/Conservation/Same-Sex-Behavior-Animals-Science
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_birds_displaying_homosexual_behavior
