This is Bird Note.

Salt Marsh Sparrow.

The name tells us everything we need to know about this bird's habitat,

but it discreetly leaves unmentioned this species' biggest secret.

It's free love mating behavior in the tidal marshes of the East Coast.

New techniques for analyzing the parentage of chicks have shown that extra pair copulations

or non-monogamous relationships in birds are not as rare as once believed, but the salt marsh

sparrow takes it to an extreme,

with a breeding strategy described by scientists as featuring a bond-free relationship between males and females.

Meaning that males and females copulate with multiple individuals of the opposite sex,

and then they go their merry way.

The female builds her nest alone, where she incubates the eggs and feeds the hatchlings.

If a male approaches while she's busy, she drives him away, and he doesn't come back. Due to historic

habitat loss in rising sea levels, salt marsh sparrows are at serious risk of extinction,

but it's not for lack of trying on her part.

For Bird Note, I'm Michael Stein.