I have 2 silly bird questions...

...any input would be greatly appreciated :D

1st question is about the mating ritual of the House Sparrow...
I've seen the males do their "dooby" dance on top of our fence dozens of times. The nearby female on the fence would always get annoyed...and instead of flying away when it's not in the mood like a female Mourning Dove would, she stops the insanity of his silly dance by scooting him off the fence...LOL
Has anyone else seen that behavior?

2nd question...
How is it that birds are able to stand on hot metal objects without burning their thin skin on their tootsies?

And I just want to mention a quick funny story I watched today. We have a few mated pairs of Mourning Doves. There is one male that has yet to be sucessful with his female mate. While sitting on our patio watching nature, The male MD kept chasing the female around our backyard. The female would hop in the garden and weave herself between the plants...all the while there was a Grackle on our birdbath watching the whole event take place...and had a look on it as if to say "Good luck with that one bud..." ...LOL

Hi Susan, I have seen the House Finch doing that on top of the finch feeder pole, it's very cute!

Pelle,

OMG, I just saw that happen here...amazing! The same routine! The female tries to get the male to be quiet by almost stomping on the male...Good Grief! She is just not in the mood today! LOL

Susan, lol, here we thought "Huney, I've got a headache" will surfice. lol. She didn't have to take such drastic measures. ROFL.

Hello Lily,

LOLOLOLOLOL...I nearly spewed my coffee! :D

I can't stop laughing trying to visualize your Sparrow pair. LOL Susan. I've seen the Titmice pair doing that mating ritual when I looked up on the trees when I heard them chattering; and both of them were 'dancing'. But I haven't seen a female rejecting its mate. LOL. What I've seen was a pair of Carolina Wrens displaying their affection in public place. And they seemed to be ambarrassed being caught by human-intruder. One ran off and hid in the thicket. The other was still all fluffed up and 'shaking' like a leave on a tree.

Lily,
Oh My...poor fella...HA! someday I'd love to see the ritual of the Wrens and I wish I was close to you to see your Thrashers!!!! Too bad we can't move Alabama and Nebraska closer ;)
I wish they would give me the sign the next time the pair does the ritual. the male goes through all the trouble of impressing her...just wierd how it comes across to me as if she is annoyed. Maybe it's her way of saying it gets her all happy...and that's her way of expressing it.
I'll say this much...I'm clueless. At least the female Mourning Dove makes it easy for me to understand. If she is happy and is in the mood with the fella, she'll preen him. If not, she waddles fast in the grass away from him or just flies away...simple.
The fact is, I'm not meant to understand I guess...LOL

Agreed Susan, something is NOT meant to be understood. Especially when we try to translate body language to verbal language as we're doing. lol. But it's fun for us to try to 'decode' other's nonverbal language. There will be room to err. :-)

Ok folks...I FINALLY got a video of the male HOSP doing his doobie dance and the female just annoyed as heck and trying to stomp on him to make him stop...
Strange courtship behavior for sure...LOL
http://s227.photobucket.com/albums/dd117/swhitney1977/?action=view¤t=MOV00036.mp4

Whoa! There are many, many interesting pictures to look at. What page do I need to go to look at this

http://s227.photobucket.com/albums/dd117/swhitney1977/?action=view¤t=MOV00036.mp4

Try the link above, Lily_love. It went straight to the video.

Enthusiastic little fellow, Susan.

Awwww, I may have a firewall that blocks the video. I tried and tried, but it wouldn't come through. Thanks Margaret.

Thanks for trying to help Margaret, bless your heart :)

Oh Lily, sorry you can't see the video :(
Darn! It's just strange how the female HOSP reacts to the male courtship dance. All the other birds I have witnessed, if the female isn't interested, she will walk away fast or fly away. The female HOSP just tries to stomp on the male, attack or push him away instead of just going elsewhere...
As you posted previously, you are right...we just aren't meant to understand...LOL
I still wish a female would fill me in on the "dirt"...hehehe