I was out for a walk yesterday - a productive walk, as it turned out, since I managed to add a summer tanager to my life list - and found a titmouse engaged in courtship behavior.
However, I've never seen this before. I've seen them flap and do some wing display, and I've seen the females flutter and peep, but I've never seen this distinct, exaggerated bow that the male was performing. It was really quite beautiful and elegant. I just sat and watched for several minutes before I fired off a frame, because I was so engrossed in it.
Has anyone else seen this? I made a collage because I loved the different angles and the effect of the light through the feathers. Larger version linked at the bottom.
So nobody else has seen this bowing behavior? I did a Google Image Search for "titmouse courtship" and didn't see anything like this in a bunch of pages of results. Very strange.
cprince8403 wrote:
Any pics of the summer tanager coming soon (it's one of my favorites)?
Let me tell you Charlie, there were no good pictures to be had. All I could manage was a few snapshots, ISO 3200 and pushed after that in post. The little guy was under a heavy canopy, and took off shortly after I spotted him.
I was just happy I got to see him! This is heavily cropped.
That's a lovely collection of a very striking behavior (that I've never seen, and this species is very common in my backyard). Great light, great detail.
Plinian wrote:
That's a lovely collection of a very striking behavior (that I've never seen, and this species is very common in my backyard). Great light, great detail.
