Apparently it doesn't matter if you're male or female — or even alive: if you look good, a sand martin will want to have sex with you. As long as you're another sand martin.

A new study originally published in The Ornithological Society of Japan caught a sand martin having sex with a dead male.

WATCH: Sand martin filmed having sex with dead male (New Scientist)

While homosexual behaviour isn't uncommon in birds, the researchers concluded that in this incident, it was likely a case of mistaken identity as both male and female sand martins look similar.

But that doesn't explain the necrophilia.

New Scientist reports that in this case, the researchers believe that it was the pose of the bird, which is similar to the mating position of the female, that caused the male bird to become aroused.

You might be familiar with another case of bird necrophilia.

In 1995, ornithologist Kees Moeliker watched a male mallard fly into a glass window at a museum he was working on. Then he watched — for 75 minutes — as another male began copulating with the dead male. He published his work six years later, which earned him the 2003 Ig Nobel Prize, an award that describes itself as "achievements that make people laugh, and then think."