Texas Bunting

Texas Bunting

 

Painted Bunting Male

When in doubt - Bunt

Heard a commotion in the bushes beside the gravel road - gave me a good excuse to stop jogging.  At first glance an object appeared - similar to the Tasmanian Devil as shown in the TV cartoons that my kids used to watch on Saturday morning, but much smaller.  Could see nothing but a whirling ball of something.  The whirling stopped when it landed on the barbed wire of the country fence.  The early morning sun was just creeping over the distant trees and shone directly on this object and inquisitive grey and red horses in the pasture beyond the fence.  The first impression was of vibrant colors - gathered together in a few feathers or fur or something.  It was only about 15 feet from where I stood in the road.  It was now clear that there were two objects -.they were birds!  The one in the rear had its beak firmly clamped on the tail feathers of the other and they had been flying rapid circles in that configuration.  (It must cramp your flying style to have somebody hanging on to your tail feathers.)  The bird in front was a small, dull green bird and the one in the back was colored with brilliant blues, reds, and greens.  Anyway, I was close to these birds, the sun was shining directly on them, and I could see their little bodies gasping for air.  Having watched dragon-flies coupled while flying, my first thought was that maybe they were coupling in flight.  If they were, this might be a first for birds.  Visions of the Nobel Prize flashed through my mind.

All of this happened in about 5 seconds.  Then, suddenly, the female broke away, leaving the male behind with a single tail feather in his beak.  It struck me as a sort of silly sight - this male painted bunting, sitting on the fence with part of his girlfriend’s tail in his beak.  A clear photo of this male would provide all the evidence necessary to convict him in some avian court of law for sexual harassment.  But, it occurred to me, as I watched the male follow her off into the distance - still with the feather in his beak - that these birds were probably married, and that it was his male chauvinistic, biological right to beat up on her anytime he wanted.  Maybe she even enjoyed - or maybe was even turned on by - having her tail feathers pulled out while flying small circles in the early-morning sun.  Maybe this was a natural form of courtship behavior.  On the other hand, maybe he was a perverted bunting, with an excess of testosterone, who enjoyed torturing little green female buntings.  You be the judge.

 

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