![]() He was dancing around in circles so the three hens could admire all sides of his handsome body. Yesterday a huge tom was all puffed up with his tail fanned. Hens come to the calls and check out the toms. The tom Wild Turkeys have fought and claimed area fields and are loudly gobbling all over the countryside. If she likes what she sees the nesting season begins. The male hummers chase off male rivals then do impressive swoops up and down in the air and hover before a perched female. Mating rights and making an impression on the females is another major area of disagreement. The females are smart and let the guys figure it all out, so they don’t have to deal with it when they arrive. The red-winged blackbirds, eastern bluebirds and ruby-throated hummingbirds are examples. Usually, the males must sort this out, and they often arrive before the females. The next item to cause disputes is territory. The slightly smaller bird on the left finally flew up in a tree to wait until the victor had his fill. One of the worst and most impressive food fights I have seen was between two red-tailed hawks that were fighting over roadkill at the edge of a field (see photo). ![]() If you are hungry, it is hard to do much of anything else. So, the first bone of contention in the seemingly tranquil spring is food competition. Once they have fed, the grosbeak comes right back. So far, the only birds that have successfully scared him off are the much larger, longer billed, blue jays. He flutters his wings, opens that impressive beak, and tries to bite the other birds, who give up and leave. He has been attacked by black-capped chickadees, sparrows and cardinals who think he is an intruder and should at least share the food. The name grosbeak is just that, a large, strong, seed eating tool. He is about the size of a robin with a shorter tail, dressed in black and white feathers with the brilliant rose-colored bib against a white breast. The first gorgeous rose-breasted grosbeak landed on the lawn yesterday and proclaimed it was his. ![]() ![]() They migrate hundreds to more than a thousand miles to get here, and some of them are darn hungry. I am still putting bird seed out so new bird arrivals have something eat. We look at the flowers and beautiful birds are flying around the yard and across the countryside. IT’S A TOUGH WORLD out there for our birds. ![]()
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