Courtship Ritual?
For anybody that spend some time observing birds and their daily behavior, very often is rewarded in a subtle way. I certainly can give you an example of what I’m referring about.
A few days ago I was watching the birds as I always do, camera ready and all, when I saw a female Red-winged Blackbird eating of one feeder dish, but behaving rather agitated and vociferous. It called my attention of course and I readily trained my camera toward her, shot some pictures of the action when of the corner of my eye I see a large male Red-winged Blackbird, flapping his large wings and flashing the red and yellow wing feathers at full intensity. He landed on the deck’s railing. He immediately proceeded to crouch very low also raffled and spread his body feathers which gave the impression of growing in size. He crawled toward the female slowly, vibrating his body while advancing, did some circular movements. The female bird watched intensely for a while and then flew away!(I guess that she wasn’t so interested after all)
He finished what I assume was his courtship ritual and turned his attention to get something to eat.
I understand that this post may not be as exciting for some readers but it was for me.
The whole deal was fantastic and very interesting! It made my day! I decided to share it with you!
Text and photographs © H.J. Ruiz – Avian 101
H.J. Ruiz - Avian101 
I slide-showed the photographs real fast and saw what you are talking about…Interesting.
The pictures I took where many, these are frame picks in between kind of giving a little sense of what I wrote.
I’ve watched magpies behaving similarly – it’s so interesting! Your pictures capture it perfectly.
It is indeed! Thanks for sharing! 🙂
Very cool you got to observe this behavior – and record it! I have seen courtship behavior but never managed to photograph a sequence like this. Good work!
Thanks Lisa! 🙂
I thought the pictures and the story behind them are fun! :)… Beautiful birds…
Thank you very much! Yes, they’re beautiful birds. 🙂
You are sharp to catch this ritual! Jeff and I got to see screech owls that frequent our backyard “in the act” under a full moon. I soooo wish I had a camera ready like you. Even though I didn’t I could have done a back flip! It was a once in a life time event.
It’s very interesting to observe birds behavior and sometimes you can be lucky to see that part of their lives, the courtship not so much the “act”. Thank you for sharing! 🙂
Good story, excellent pics. Exciting, even!
Thank you, I’m glad that you liked it! 🙂
I’ve seen this courtship-type behavior with the male RW too, he was quite full of himself, lol. I get excited too on seeing daily behaviors, especially with rituals & bonding! 🙂
For people that love birds these behavior is very gratifying that the act will lead to proliferation of the specie. Thanks for sharing Donna! 🙂
great!
Thanks! 🙂