a Brewster’s blackbird
wary, he eyes the humans
iridescent fluff
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Swooping down to find tidbits, he seemed unafraid of humans on this busy beach in Capitola, California, but make a sudden movement and he’s gone.
This guy also showed up and I think he’s a pigeon of some sort or another. I thought it might be easy to find his variety as he looks like he’s wearing a tuxedo. I failed to identify him but I did find this interesting video on Parlor Roller pigeons. The Parlor Roller pigeons can’t fly; they move by doing backflips along the ground.
Darwin had seen them looking hilarious as they did rolls during flight but times change. The breed lives in captivity going to competitions and are bred to increase the length of their roll. Something happened along the way as breeders focused on that one rolling ability for generations upon generations since the 1800s and now they can’t fly after age three months or so.
This bird on the beach isn’t a Parlor Roller pigeon. I think the black dog wandering the sands closeby would have nabbed him up if he couldn’t fly away. I’m happy that this bird still knows how to fly.
On this video, skip to the 3:04 minute mark to see the Parlor Roller pigeons. They show it at regular speed and then one at slow motion so you can see how they do their backflips along the ground.
References:
haiku and photo by M. LaFreniere, all rights reserved
The Bird that is Bred to Do Backflips Instead of Fly- the Parlor Roller
by Karl Smallwood, Today I Found Out – Feed Your Brain, August 1, 2017
RDP Saturday – BIRD
prompt by myself on Ragtag Daily Prompt
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