Crunch time

A strange sound woke me up this morning. I thought the neighbour is at the backyard drumming plastic bowls with xylophone mallets and I could not understand why he would do that... It turned out that two furious (normally these species look very calm and collected) pidgeons flapped their wings and tails against each other like there was a war between them. I am not sure whether it was a violent mating session or two males trying to show off. Or two girls fighting over a boyfriend. Or maybe it was a domestic dispute. Anyway, for a while it looked like it had started snowing. Feathers were flying everywhere.
This picture is of the bottlebrush bush in my front yard. These beautiful-looking culprits crunch away the green matter.

Copyright Kirsi Reinikka 2012