Fatal Attraction

Taking my pasture hike a couple of days ago, I caught sight of something bright red about ten feet away. Approaching carefully, I could see right away there was nothing alive, but…sadly there had been.


All the male cardinals in the vicinity recently, had been singing their hearts out, trying madly to attract a mate with their color and their voices.. Last year, we’d had what seemed to be an overload of males and a paucity of females. It went without saying that loud singing inevitably had to be a large part of this season’s mating game.


I believe this particular pile of lovely red feathers, was a result of one male’s attracting the wrong kind of attention! Some hungry raptor got a meal.


As I was walking away, a loud muffler on a white convertible ROARED by on the road below me as it sped by, in a blur, going at least 45 mph on what is no more than a 25 mph road. The top was down, the boom box was in full throat, there was no one in the adjacent seat, and it was pretty obvious that the driver was oblivious to any possible oncoming traffic, as he tried to attract attention (a mate?)  by his noise, his speed, and his flashy vehicle. It was a mating dance in full display.


I couldn’t help comparing the pile of feathers to the heedless youthful driver. Unfortunately, in the latter case, the unfolding Fatal Attraction being cultivated by the young man might just take some unwitting traveler coming from the opposite direction into the evolutionary mix.


I truly wish people would not treat one-lane roads as their personal speedways.

Slow down, please….or someone is going to wind up being nothing more than a pile of brightly colored....."feathers!"