A blue heron flew over my head this morning. How nice to see you again, I thought. The red wing blackbirds have been singing for weeks now. Yesterday I noted a group of robins gathered together on a grassy verge and wondered if these were first year bachelors, like young men grouped together for courage and support, perhaps a mature robin was giving lessons on how to attract a female. I did a bit of research and discovered part of the mating ritual has the male feeding the female, she needs to plump up a bit to be healthy enough to mate and incubate eggs, she can’t be wearing herself thin trying to find food. I think I’d like to be a robin, wouldn’t you?
“Honey, you’re too thin, here let me get dinner for you while you rest.” Definitely not something we hear during human interactions, is it?
Great blue herons enjoy elaborate courtship rituals and males bring females the materials to build nests. Again, I like this idea. In some cultures of the past the male needed to prove to Daddy that he could provide for a wife before winning the woman’s hand in marriage. Perhaps this is a idea we need to bring back.
Things aren’t always as they seem – the red winged blackbird male stakes out a territory and has several females within it. The female builds the nest and takes care of the young. *Humph* That’s all I have to say about this bird.
