A Love Triangle

John, Darlene, and I made an early start for Marana, where the Scissor-tailed Flycatcher continues to dazzle an appreciative and growing audience. The beauty of the bird, and its unusual ‘tickability’ in a state where they rarely linger more than a day or two, are a large part of the appeal, of course, but as the domestic situation becomes more and more, shall we say, complex, some of us might be forced to admit to more prurient motives: birders truly do like to watch.

The bird is most certainly attached to a Western Kingbird, and to the telephone pole where that kingbird was adding fluff and trash to a new nest this morning. The scissor-tail’s defensive instincts are quite strong: we even saw him chase off a Mourning Dove today (though a Gila Woodpecker managed to land on the pole for a moment without incurring tyrannid wrath). What is interesting is the presence of a second Western Kingbird, obviously interested himself in the nest and its fetching architect; the scissor-tail chased this second bird relentlessly this morning, diving at him and methodically displacing him from perch after perch until he was so far down the telephone line as to be nearly invisible.

It’s like a Russian novel in the Sonoran desert.