The excitement of spring is starting to ramp up and anyone with ears can hear the sounds of nature bluebirds it by just stepping outside. Every morning, when I open the garage door the sky is still dark, but there is a male cardinal singing in the cottonwood tree right next to my driveway.
This exuberance is fueled by a rush of hormones that have been triggered by the increasing levels of bluebirds of daylight, but the feeling that comes pouring out of him is unambiguous. Spring is here, the world is waking up and he is excited by it! Our local amphibians are also starting to feel the effects of the warm weather that has crept upon us.
Spring peepers, wood frogs, and even American toads have all been heard singing at different times of day in my neighborhood and their excitement and exuberance are just as palpable as that of the birds. I’ve been seeing more and more deer in roadside fields where they are looking for fresh greens to eat. I’ve been seeing rabbits in my backyard for the first time since last fall and I’ve noticed a few moths around that have been liberated by the warmer temperatures. But none of this compares to the display of affection that I witnessed in my yard when I came home from work last week.
It was a Monday afternoon and as I approached my driveway I rolled down the window bluebirds so I could check the mail. I had already rolled down the window further up the road so I could hear the peepers singing in a roadside wetland, but now I was just seeing about a mundane chore before I finally pulled into the garage. Even before I managed to open up the mailbox I was amazed by the song of a bluebird that was coming from the direction of my house.
Not only was the song loud, which could only mean that he was in the cottonwood bluebirds tree, but it was persistent in its repetition. This guy was really revved up! So as I backed up the car and then pulled into the driveway I was not surprised to see the bluebird exactly where I thought he would be. However, I was transfixed by what I saw next because it is something that I have never seen a bluebird do.
The little fellow seemed to jump up into the air with his wings spread in a dihedral shape above his back. Then, with the same effortless weightlessness as a monarch butterfly gliding across the tall grasses of a summer meadow, this little bird seemed to float downward at an impossibly slow speed to a spruce tree at the edge of my yard. There he landed with a flourish of his gorgeous wings and he seemed to somehow manage to increase the volume of his singing at the same time.
I went into the house, grabbed my camera and stepped out onto the deck. The bluebird looked at me, but was unfazed. I got as close to him as the dimensions of my deck would allow and raised my big lens in his direction. The bluebird looked at me, but was unfazed. I took his photo in the bluebirds light of the cloudless afternoon, and he remained unfazed. His singing was continuous and loud and then he suddenly floated to the other side of the tree and out of sight, but not out of earshot.
The singing persisted and I went into the house to grab some seed for the feeders. When I came back out I saw the bluebird land on a different spruce tree, but when I raised my camera lens I realized that this was a female bluebird. She has the same basic colors in the same places, but hers are all far less vibrant that the colors of the male.
As I took her photo I noticed that the sound of the male’s song was now coming from somewhere up by the mailbox. I saw that she was looking in that direction intently and when I glanced over I saw the male immediately. His brilliant blue feathers seemed to be glowing in the sunlight and he occasionally gave a flourishing flutter to draw even further attention to himself. This was clearly his best effort to impress and (dare I say) even seduce the female and it appeared to work.
Unable to resist his magnetism any longer the female flew directly to him with no hint of weightless fluttering. She knew exactly where she wanted to go and she got there quickly. Then, just as she arrived at the little sumac tree where he was waiting, he let loose with an explosive, fluttering, flourish of his dazzling wings. She was excited to be with him and he was equally excited to be with her. This simple display of affection erased any hint of negativity that might have been in my brain at the time and I was overwhelmed with the adorable tenderness that was clearly flowing between these two magical creatures. Love was in the air and its infectious warmth flooded into me.
Source: This news is originally published by recorder