At least not up close. And maybe never.
Five days ago at Bear River MBR I was photographing other birds on a large pond when I heard a commotion on the canal flowing into the pond. It was caused by a large, far-away group of over a dozen cantankerous Cinnamon Teals who would fight for a few seconds, pause, and then fight again. Most of the teals were males but there were a few females sprinkled in and I suspect the fights were caused by unattached males trying to horn in on females that already had a mate.
While they were fighting they were far away and intermittently hidden by vegetation so I just watched them, mostly through my lens. After a few minutes, one mated pair of teals had had enough of the tension and fighting so they took off and disappeared to the southeast.
A few moments later, during a particularly intense bout of fighting, another pair took off but this pair headed my way. To my surprise, they landed on the pond right in front of me and only a few feet away. Their behavior immediately after landing was fascinating and I was able to document it with many photos. There was some out of focus vegetation between me and the teals but given the unusual behavior I documented, and how close they were to me, I can completely ignore it.
All photos are presented in the order they were taken.
This is the first photo I got after they landed. They were butted up against each other, breast to breast, and alternately head-pumping and vocalizing.
Their vocalizing surprised me because Cinnamon Teals are relatively quiet compared to other dabbling ducks. They vocalize infrequently.
They seemed to take turns with the head-pumping. One bird would extend its neck and head vertically and then…
the other one would do the same. Often they were vocalizing simultaneously. I found it interesting that the hen kept her wings and tail pointed upward during the entire performance but the drake didn’t follow suit.
This behavior lasted for a surprisingly long time so I got dozens of photos of it but many of the photos were similar or almost exact copies of each other so I’m leaving most of them out.
After quite a while I could tell that the intensity of the performance was beginning to wind down. The drake almost climbed up on her breast with his breast before he…
swam in front of his mate to her other side.
And then they kissed.
Nah, Cinnamon Teals don’t kiss. Or do they?
I can only guess at the meaning of this truly fascinating behavior. It was my impression that they were reaffirming/cementing their bond after the unwanted attention from an unattached male over on the canal. After this photo was taken they settled down to pretty normal behavior for mated Cinnamon Teals.
But the big fight on the canal was still occurring so I watched them through my lens for a short while. Eventually a third pair of mated teals had had enough of all the excitement and took off to escape it.
This time I got a few shots of them in flight. I sure wish they’d been closer.
Ron
Bird behavior is fascinating. Thanks for sharing.
Agreed, Deedee.
Absolutely fascinating. Reeds? There were reeds in this series? I didn’t see them. At all. And definitely finishing with a kiss.
And off topic. When I tick receive follow up comments at the moment (and confirm) I am not receiving them at the moment. Is anyone else having this issue?
EC, am I remembering correctly that you had the same problem once before? I have no idea what might be causing it.
Nice sequence with the Teal’s romantic period. Very tender and caring so different than the Mallards smashing the female under water etc. I like Arwen’s you put the left wing in 🙂
Thanks, Everett.
Very interesting behavior. The last photo was wonderful, beautiful, in fact. The male looks like he is looking at you.
Take Care,
Kaye
I’m glad you like that last shot, Kaye. I do too, even though I wasn’t close.
I loved this. Definitely a sweet moment.
Thanks, Arwen.
I’m thinking of several Pas de Deux pieces — or the Hokey Pokey. Either way, that’s definitely a smoocheroo at the end. Thanks for sharing such a delightful series that has encouraged me to channel my inner anthropomorphizer.
“that’s definitely a smoocheroo at the end.”
Marty, I was curious about whether the tips of their bills were actually touching or not so I looked at that image at 100%. They were definitely touching.
That’s close enough to a kiss for me.
You put your left wing in…
😂💜
Earworm!
The Kiss for the Finale!! Really charming capture Ron 🙂
Yup, a near-perfect ending. Thanks, Kathleen.
Wonderful capture and the reeds don’t distract from the photos. Very interesting behavior.
Thank you, April.
Definitely a conversation! Go to the bar for a quiet little drink, end up in a brawl with guys going thru the windows – enough to upset any lady. Their expressions are wonderful. Hurrah! that you and your camera were there to document.
I really enjoyed your alternate narrative, Carolyn.
Cool pictures! I really enjoyed.
Good. Thanks, Laurie.
I started writing the script the instant I saw that first photo… 😁 What a great capture, Ron. Thanks!
Sounds like script writing would be a good profession for you, Ellen. 🙂
Fun and interesting series, Ron! 🙂 Aftermath of watching the fighting was well worth waiting on. The “dance” they were involved with is beautiful. Can’t even pick a favorite…… 😉
Raining – we’ll take it! High of 47 today and 90’s by Sun. – typical N Central MT. Doesn’t let you get used to anything. Scrambled and got the lawn mowed after rain Sat. knowing this was predicted.
Thanks, Judy. I wonder if they’ll get the 6-12″ of snow they’re predicting in areas like East Glacier and Babb.
I have seen common flickers do a similar dance in the Salt Lake City cemetery. It’s charming!
I’ll have to watch for it in flickers.
“Awesome” Thank you for sharing.
Thanks, CJ.
You really catch some interesting situations. The fact that there is some vegetation in the way does not at all detract from this set of very nice photos that capture this interaction between these two beautiful ducks. I enjoyed them and the narrative.
As for the behavior, to me it is obvious that the drake has not yet learned what I have after 36 years of marriage; you can save a lot of time and frustration if you just admit she’s probably right, get right to the kiss-and-make-up part, be happy, and move on with the day.
Thank you, Michael. Typically, that out of focus vegetation would have been a problem for me but the behavior is so interesting I hardly notice it in most of these photos.
The lesson you described in your last paragraph may be one I never learned. Two divorces are evidence of that… 🙂
😂
You should set the whole series to music! I suggest perhaps a waltz by Tchaikowsky—-maybe from Swan Lake?
Made me smile, Sue. I can see it. And almost hear it in my head.