On Valentine’s Day I learned that boys will be boys no matter what species they are and sometimes they do very silly things to impress girls (or try really hard and look adorable in the process.)
I guess males are all similar though, so let me share the story (and pictures) of how the Gray Peacock Pheasant got the girl.
This Valentine’s Day, while at Mae Wong National Park, Ross and I were sitting at a little watering hole when a male Gray Peacock Pheasant came walking in. He was just minding his own business looking like this:
He drank some water, pecked around at the ground a little bit and went on his merry way.
About 10 minutes later, two females came to the watering hole for a drink.
A little after that the male came back and noticed there were some girls at the watering hole. As soon as he saw them, he puffed out his feathers and started drinking water and pecking at the ground looking like this:
I’m sure the girls saw him but they just ignored him (in typical girl fashion) and kept eating. So there he was on one side of the watering hole acting all silly trying to get the girls’ attention all the while the girls are on the other side just minding their own.
I guess that didn’t sit too well with him so he started acting even more ridiculous and brought out the “big guns.” He decided to walk over to the girls and show them exactly what they were missing.
I’m not sure if the girls were playing hard to get but they just walked away back into the woods leaving the male standing there. He stayed a bit longer then walked off into the woods after them. The show wasn’t over yet because the girls came back 10 minutes later. They continued minding their own when the male comes following behind and starts ‘displaying’ again.
This time his charm must have worked because one of the girls ran over to him.
He ends up getting the girl just as he had hoped.
The two of them walked off into the woods and did exactly what two birds who love each other would do.
And they lived happily ever after. THE END.
Melissa, you always had a flair for writing! My question is, does the male bird still act over the top after he gets the girl or do they act like they don’t have to anymore and therefore are not as attractive but can still get the girl? Hmmmm sounds like life to me.
A nice post. What are the targets?
This is funny.