Birds of a feather
By Ralph Dickerson
In the last month I wrote about two different bird incidents in which I was involved: one with hummingbirds, the other with Martins. One involved my bird feeder, the other my radio-controlled airplane. Here is an update regarding both incidents.
On Sunday afternoon I decided to go outside around 4 p.m. and sit in my porch swing. I sit long-ways in my swing, with my feet propped up. I had not been out there for very long when the hummingbird I named Angel came flying up.
She approached the feeder, but seeing me in the swing made her hesitant to approach the feeder. Angel watched me for a few second before she zoomed off. A few minutes later she approached again, and cautiously ate some of the food from the feeder on the far side from me. She took a few sips of the hummingbird food, and again zipped away.
Not long afterwards, she came back to the feeder again, but this time she feed on the side of the feeder facing me. Angel came into it sideways where she could feed, but also keep an eye on me. She again took a few sips of the food, but when she finished feeding Angel did not fly away, but turned towards me and looked at me. The bird cocked her head sideways as she looked at me, and she slowly drifted towards me. She literally came within the confines of the swing, but out of arm’s reach. Angel hovered there for a few seconds before she again zoomed away.
I figured she was gone for the afternoon, but a few minutes later Angel flew back to the porch. This time she did not approach the feeder, but flew to the end of the swing and looked at me. She again slowly drifted toward me, but instead of flying away she did something I did not expect…Angel kept drifting towards me, and actually flew up beside me head. After a few seconds she flew away, but she repeated this pattern a couple of more times. The last time she flew over to the feeder, drank some of the food and then zoomed away.
On Monday evening another interesting incident involving birds occurred. I regularly go to the walking trail area at North Hancock Elementary School and fly my Delta Ray One radio controlled airplane. Last week a few Martins decided to challenge my plane, and a short bird fight ensued before the birds flew away. On Monday evening I arrived at the walking trail, turned on my transmitter, hooked up the flight battery to the plane and hand launched the Delta Ray. Almost immediately about a dozen or more Martins flew toward the plane. When I saw them I thought, “here we go again!” to my surprise the Martins did something different!
Instead of attacking my plane, the Martins started flying along beside my plane! When I turned, they turned. When I banked the plane in a large, lazy circle, the Martins followed along. The Martins flew with my plane for about 20 second or so before the majority of the birds flew off to do their own thing.
The interesting part, the rest of the time I was there flying, a martin or two would come zooming up, fly in formation with my Delta Ray for a few second before flying off. I am not sure what the intentions of the Martins were, but I think they now see my plane as their leader!
