this post was submitted on 18 Jan 2025
734 points (98.7% liked)
Funny
7245 readers
925 users here now
General rules:
- Be kind.
- All posts must make an attempt to be funny.
- Obey the general sh.itjust.works instance rules.
- No politics or political figures. There are plenty of other politics communities to choose from.
- Don't post anything grotesque or potentially illegal. Examples include pornography, gore, animal cruelty, inappropriate jokes involving kids, etc.
Exceptions may be made at the discretion of the mods.
founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
view the rest of the comments
Saw this kickass bird at the lake one day. Went home and looked it up.
red-winged blackbird
C'mon!
Field biology professor at my alma matter did a study on red-winged blackbirds where they put black paint over the red spots. The females didn't really care, but the other males would beat the shit out of the test birds.
Animal behavior is funny
I wonder how that benefits them in terms of evolution.
The benefit is that strong red patches scare off other males, small patches get you clobbered, and no one is mating with the bird that just got his shit rocked.
Brighter colors indicate health like their ability to successfully gather food which builds up the pigmentation, as well as fitness in avoiding predators. If you see bright bird it is very likely its a male, the stronger the signals, the more attractive they are as a potential mate