I have seen them do this several times. On each occasion, as they jump in and out they exchange something. I have seem them do this with berries and two weeks ago watched a pair exchanging a little bundle of leaf bud. You have to watch very closely as they do this so rapidly it is hard to comprehend the back and forth giving.
Linda Sent from my iPhone On May 3, 2010, at 10:19 PM, Nari Mistry <[email protected]> wrote: Yesterday we had a small crowd of seven male > RBGrosbeaks at our feeders. Today only the > resident male is coming to feed, the others must > have moved on. No sign of females. > > This afternoon I was treated to nice looks at > several courting pairs of Cedar Waxwings. For > those who have not watched waxwings do this > dance, take some time to sit and watch among > flocks of waxwings right now, while leaves are > sparse & the birds are courting. (This is almost > as good as watching Redcapped Manakins at a lek, > which we did in Osa, Costa Rica) > > The courting pair sit side-by-side on a > (horizontal) branch touching each other, then one > jumps away sideways ~15 cms and immediately back, > then the other jumps away in the other direction > and back again. This is done several times in a > row. It's almost like a mechanical toy. I can't > tell whether they do a lightning shuffle (å la > MichaelJackson) or jump cleanly, although I have > tried to watch carefully. Sometimes they seem to > snuggle together and rub beaks and allo-feed. If > you are lucky & they are on a bare branch, you > can see this sprightly dance clearly. Hope you > all get to see it. > > Nari Mistry, > Ellis Hollow Rd. > > > > -- > Nari B. Mistry, > Ithaca, New York > For my paintings, see http://www.artbynari.com > > > -- > > Cayugabirds-L List Info: > http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsWELCOME > http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsRULES > > ARCHIVES: > 1) http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/maillist.html > 2) http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/CAYU.html > 3) http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/Cayugabirds > > Please submit your observations to eBird: > http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ > > -- > > -- Cayugabirds-L List Info: http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsWELCOME http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsRULES ARCHIVES: 1) http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/maillist.html 2) http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/CAYU.html 3) http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/Cayugabirds Please submit your observations to eBird: http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ --
