Playtime

Almost every living thing spends some time playing. Birds are not an exception.  Even our great regal Bald Eagle can be seen doing aerial stunts with another eagle as it soars thousands of feet above the earth. It swoops down and brushes the other and often rolls over in snap rolls beneath the other brushing its talons as it sails on by.

Most farm boys have lain on the barn roof for hours watching as barn swallows dart after each other and execute a number of loops in a kind of aerial tag. Other times they lay in the comfort of a bed of growing alfalfa early in the evenings and watch the purple martins zip along after each other playing follow the leader just barely inches off the ground.

Now, the businesslike red-headed woodpeckers is not one you might expect to engage in frivolous behavior but red-headed woodpeckers are frisky creatures and enjoy each others company and often may be seen in groups of three to five chasing each other while zipping recklessly through branches of oak trees as if saying, “try and follow me through here”, and the others do and the game continues but increases in intensity.

Yes indeed; there are many interesting things going on within the mountain shadows if one will take the time to look.  

To read more Mountain Shadows:
James Heth Archives

James Heth Email:
James Heth