Friday, March 25

object of aggression



"on the wall, flameback," adri communicated to me in a low voice.  he was standing maybe 10 meters away from me, having come down the stair while i stood on the sloping asphalt driveway.

we were at the parking lot of the (former) legenda suites at cubi-triboa district in subic, having left drew, kitty and ivan at the street corner looking at blue-naped parrots on the agoho trees. 

  i looked at the tree beside the hotel wall, and saw a male woodpecker creeping up and down the tree trunk going about the usual woodpecker routine.

 "yup, male!" i answered adri.
"SA WALL!(ON THE WALL!)" he said again.
"oo nga! male! (yes! male!)"  i wondered what the insistence was about.
"tignan mo SA wall! (look ON the wall!)"
and then i saw it...
the female flameback was actually perched on the vertical concrete wall of the hotel!
"ahhhh... oo nga no!"


talk about un-natural perches.  not only that... the female seemed quite agitated.  she seemed greatly threatened by another female flameback mirroring, literally, her every move.

she would swoop, fly in, attack, peck. a huge display of aggression... at herself! i could feel her hostility with her every charge and dip.  it was of course, just her reflection on the large glass windows of the building she was threatening/threatened by.  it was pretty comical to watch, this display of non self-awareness. by this time, kitty, drew and ivan had joined us in our observation.

 it was also interesting to note that while this was going on, the male calmly  went about his business pecking away at the tree trunk, up and down, peck peck peck. initially i would think that the male of the species would be the sole aggressor.   but then again...
... apparently not.

 after all, we each have our own antagonists... (and maybe like the woodpecker, once in a while we don't realise that our greatest antagonist is our self!)
hmmmm....
(thanks to adri for the great pictures!)
Posted by at
Labels: , , , ,

12 comments:

  1. adri constantinoMarch 25, 2011 at 3:10 PM

    nice write-up! let us share this in FB!

    ReplyDelete
  2. JP CarinoMarch 25, 2011 at 3:29 PM

    great story and documentation

    ReplyDelete
  3. trinket canlasMarch 25, 2011 at 3:30 PM

    nice pictures too! :-)

    ReplyDelete
  4. trinket canlasMarch 25, 2011 at 4:21 PM

    jp! thanks! :-)

    ReplyDelete
  5. ixi mapuaMarch 25, 2011 at 9:53 PM

    You always have nice stories and documentation! One of my favorites is your documentation of the butterfly coming out of it´s pupa. The gift from Lydia several years ago. Then you had pictures of the poor frog impaled on a thorn by a shrike. Nice work Trinket! Keep it up!

    ReplyDelete
  6. karen graceMarch 26, 2011 at 12:52 AM

    nice captures!

    ReplyDelete
  7. trinket canlasMarch 26, 2011 at 9:46 AM

    thanks ixi! we miss you!

    ReplyDelete
  8. trinket canlasMarch 26, 2011 at 9:46 AM

    thanks karen! pictures ni adri yan... :-)

    ReplyDelete
  9. A M GonzalesMarch 26, 2011 at 9:48 AM

    nice "reflection." :)

    ReplyDelete
  10. trinket canlasMarch 26, 2011 at 1:46 PM

    haha. and nice pun anna.

    ReplyDelete
  11. Cristy BurlaceMarch 28, 2011 at 8:58 PM

    your posts are always fun and have great energy. you see amazing things, because you are out there looking. imagine all the people who never stop and take time to look around them, they are missing so much. my 4year old kid now makes me stop, look and enjoy more now days.
    always so fresh and enjoyable - its always a nice 'time out' to read your posts and marvel at the world around us.
    thanks for sharing

    ReplyDelete
  12. trinket canlasMarch 29, 2011 at 5:40 PM

    thanks cristy! i am really touched by your super kind words... and happy that you enjoy my stories about the little things in life that give me so much pleasure. :-) i really do hope that everyone has the time to stop, look and enjoy more.

    ReplyDelete

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)