Abstract
Birds display some of the most elaborate and well-studied courtship and mating behaviors of the animal kingdom. The hormonal regulation of these behaviors has been detailed in multiple avian species. Courtship and mating behaviors are regulated to a large extent by the same hormones; however, the environmental cues that stimulate hormone synthesis and release, and the target brain regions in which they act, differ between males and females and among species. Further, hormones act within partially overlapping neural systems to regulate different components of courtship and mating.