Sunday, June 29, 2008

Bird Stuff

Mating dance? Territorial dispute? A bizarre and fascinating bird thing?

Yes...definitely the last one. Perhaps one of the others.

Yesterday, these two birds spent about 15 minutes doing their thing in our yard. They chose a stump from one of our recently removed trees as their stage. And they performed.



Sometimes one - or even both - would run off into the grass, but they never ventured far from the stump. And the ritual never ceased.


They sang. They danced. They bobbed and weaved.


There was lots of posturing and tail flaring.


And it was fascinating to watch.

I'm no avian expert. I have no idea what kind of birds they are. Perhaps a Ruby-Headed Grass Dancer. Or a Flair-Tailed Stump Hopper. Maybe some dear reader can identify our little friends. But if you have to look it up in Black-Throated Stump Dancers of Connecticut, Volume III, don't go pretending like you knew it all along.


Eventually, they both took off and the yard was quiet again.

9 comments:

furiousBall said...

very cool, no idea what kind of birds they are

meno said...

I find myself strangely aroused by the sight of that magnificent spread out tail.

Silly birdies.

I think they are red-headed double-breasted bed thrashers.

Jenster said...

Wow! It's just like Wild Kingdom or something!

Great photos.

thethinker said...

I love watching birds. Sometimes they do the silliest things.

VioletSky said...

Just think, had you not chopped down that tree...
Do you think they ever mated, or will he be back for more flirting?

simon said...

its a territorial thing. So too is bird song. Birds that sing better together are telling other birds to stay away.. :o)

Jazz said...

Cool. I love birds.

Anonymous said...

Those would be flickers. (A kind of woodpecker.)

Anonymous said...

I believe the birds may be Northern Flickers.