Bronzed Amoré....

At this time, Bud and I had taken a short road trip around the southern borders of the Rio Grande Valley here in Texas this past week.... as I type this up in advance to our return home, I'm hoping to spot and photograph some unique birds found only in this area of the state, and on the side, a bit of sight seeing of places we've just driven by at other times. Two birds, in particular, I wish to find and get pictures of them, but I'll take anything we can get in our binoculars. I'm also hoping that the Spring weather will be good! While in my absence, I have a pre-scheduled post [I hope it works] to share, but by Saturday I will be back home catching up on laundry, picking up our kitties, etc. so won't have time to visit 'til the beginning of the week... in the meantime, I wanted to share this sequence of a Bronzed Cowbird and his courtin' ritual. With so many internet sites, when researching, I found that when typing in Bronzed Cowbird, too many sites show up with the Brown Headed Cowbird...they are NOT the same as the Bronzed Cowbird...two completely different species!!! The Bronzed Cowbird's habitat is mostly Old Mexico with a drifting of a few into the southern tip of Coastal Texas. Yet, the brown-headed cowbird is found throughout most of the USA.

The short time we watched this routine, while getting some photos of it all, running through my head was an imagined conversation of the birds...a hysterical one at that. Here are some samplings of the courtship we saw a few weeks back at a city park here in town. At one instance the male hovered just a few feet above the two females; the photo isn't all that clear tho, sorry. What I find comical was, the male in all its glorified beauty and showing off... all that time, the females are so uninterested.

Male: "Hey? Gals? Wanna see my struttin' stuff, huh, huh, huh?"
Females continue to dine without paying much attention to anything but the food in front of them.
Male: "Look...over here. Here I am."
Male, trying his best to get some attention, starts to dance on the table.
While the females snicker under their breath and whisper to each other...
Females: "He's gonna expect something from this free meal, almost guaranteed."
Male: "Watch this my lovelies....Bet you've not seen this before." as he shows his broadened chest.
Females are nonchalantly glancing at the other diners in the vicinity...ignoring all his esteemed actions of amour.
Male: "How 'bout this ladies? I can be very nimble and acrobatic. See?" as he glides across the dining room and lands again; his bright eyes the color of sin.
The females aren't impressed as they know just what he expects by showing them around town and giving them their taste of luxury at the finest eatery; Restaurante Parque de la Ciudad*.
Male: "Okay then, let me show you this....."
...and the two gals he's escorting decide enough is enough and leave together, with the male running after 'em, paying the bill as he drops his gratuity, that covers the table top.

BRONZED COWBIRD
photos taken: Blucher Park *city park [aka "Restaurante Parque de la Ciudad"]- Corpus Christi, Texas
habitat map: Bronzed Cowbird


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