The one on the right is a respectable father of a family, the one on the left is either his own child (I think?) or his own partner? Why has the left one tried to mount the male???
This sort of behaviiur is seen pretty frequently in a wide range of bird species. Different explanations have bèen proposed for it in different contexts. In songbirds, females mounting males is typically explained as females showing readiness to mate, or that they are taking conteol of some aspect of the nesting process. Ibdon’t think that anybody has ever demonstrated a single explanation for all such behaviours.
I think linnets produce more than one annual brood (?) and this would presumably be part of each breeding cycle.
Classical explanations of mating behaviour tend to treat females as mostly passive receivers of male information. It’s a bit more complicated than that.
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Thank you Peter for a detailed reply! So we can assume that the one on the left is an adult female demonstrating some sort of mating behavior, not this year’s youngster fooling around (it’s kind of difficult to tell those apart with linnets).