Country view
the cavorting masses splitting off into pairs and chasing each other in furious games of tag. At times, the sky seems to be full of birds flinging themselves around with absolute abandon, clearly having fun!
Such displays are by no means restricted to rooks and jackdaws for I have also seen ravens play with rare enthusiasm. My first eye-opening experience of watching ravens express such a desire was off our west coast on the distant Treshnish Islands. We had been invited to go for a week’s sailing and we anchored off the islands overnight and then explored them during the following day.
Much to my astonishment, a family party of ravens suddenly appeared. Some were spiralling or corkscrewing through the air, some were even flying upside down. Without any doubt, they were having fun. The 20th-century naturalist Frances Pitt wrote about her two tame ravens which, as far as I know, were free flying. She described how the pair of them would collaborate in a game in which they would tease unmercifully one of Miss Pitt’s cats, one of them distracting the cat whilst the other would sneak behind the animal and grab its tail. Ravens clearly have an in-built instinct to play as well as a mischievous disposition.
The propensity to play may however, not be one of the essential attributes of wagtails, yet this clan, most notably in the form of the pied wagtail, are to me naturally comedic birds in appearance, the “Coco the Clown” of the avian world. That black eye on the white face of the bird paints a clownish picture whilst the very demeanour of the bird seems to me to spell comedy.
It struts, it runs until its legs are a blur, it springs into the air, where it pirouettes so brilliantly as it pursues insects. And of course, it constantly flips its tail up and down, as opposed to wagging it.
This latter feature of wagtail life is the source of much speculation. Some conjecture that it is disturbing insects which it then catches. However, as its tail is naturally at the rear of the bird and my observations reveal that it is always darting ahead on foot or on wing to snaffle them, I hae ma doubts! In my opinion, more is it a movement that mirrors the passage of water beside which we are most often likely to see the bird. In other words it may be a means of obfuscation.
However, it may also be a constant signal that simply says “I am here – this is my territory”, a statement of integrity. Whatever the reason for the constant tail movement, the one thing that is assured, is that wagtails somehow always bring a smile to one’s lips, intentionally or otherwise.
The poet Montgomery wrote of the water wagtail:
“What art thou made of? air or light or dew? I have no time to tell you, if I knew.
My tail – ask that – perhaps may solve the matter; I’ve missed three flies already by this clatter.”