Did you know that
Did you know that tossing stones can be part of a courtship? Yes! But not for humans, of course. So please don’t do that. Now let me go back to what I am talking about. The Piping Plover’s courtship.
Firstly, a male Piping Plover tries to claim a territory along the high shores, then to get a female Piping Plover’s attention, he would flash his stone tossing skills and several repeated aerial dives.
Impressive for the female Piping Plover right? The female Piping Plover who was impressed by his skills will feel the scraped sand that the male Piping Plover made for her, their future nest.
As I was reading the article about the Piping Plover, their courtship made me smile. It’s somehow parallel to human courtship. We try to impress the person we fall in love with and we try to make them feel comfortable. We accommodate their needs.
Did you know that a piping Plover has a broken-wing way of protecting their young? Yes! It’s one of their injury-feigning display to prevent predators from harming their fledglings. It is a form of distraction to the predators. It makes the adult Piping Plover appear as an easy prey instead of their little ones.
Brooding is also one of the Piping Plover’s protective techniques. They will sit on the sand to pretend that it’s their nest site and when the predator approaches, the parent Piping Plover will run away.
Rodent -run is another way of distraction for the predators. It’s a flight response wherein they ruffle their back feathers and run away.
I perceived the Piping Plover’s injury-feigning as courage in several ways. When someone puts other’s safety before their own, that’s heroism. Isn’t it? It is an act filled with courage. This behavior exhibits strength in spirit too.
Some of us could be broken physically, mentally, or spiritually; however, we still manage to help others the best way we could. Don’t forget to give yourself a credit for your daily act of courage.
Simple things count such as a simple act of kindness like opening a door for someone whose hands are full. You may never know what difference your kindness can do to another person’s life. It can certainly make them happy.
Poem written by Salvacion Roselle Reyes.
Photo credit: Adobe Creative Cloud Express.