The bluebird pair perseveres. Now I see the two often. In the trees. At the feeder. Flying off into sky. Perched on or near the copper-roofed house on the post in the back right corner of the yard. Today he sits long and still on the Confederate Jasmine trellis a few feet from his house of choice. He is puffy and fat, I think to keep warm on this chilly but sunny morning. He doesn't sing from his trellis perch. He only sits. She pokes her head out of the entrance to the house and holds her pose, too. Are they only staking their claim on the house, in preparation for what is to come? Or are they further along than that? Will keep watching. I can't imagine that she is already sitting on eggs---as I've not seen any carrying in of nesting grass---unless they're using last year's nuthatch nest.
Nor have I seen any flirtatious mating behaviors. They don't follow each other around the yard. I only ever see one or the other at a time---easy to identify by their color difference. Her head and back feathers are a subtle gray with a few blue feathers in her tail, rusty breast and buff belly. His back feathers, far from subtle, are deep sky blue that brighten in flight. His rusty breast is less dull than hers, same buff belly. Round black eye.
Imagine a small bird of blue where the hawk is sitting in top photo of last post, and you can see what I saw today. dkm
"The bluebird carries the sky on his back."
-Henry David Thoreau
No comments:
Post a Comment