Anti-Caturday: Talk Like a Fairy

At first glance fairywrens seem like your typical insectivorous bird. But they are so not. While these birds have monogamous relationships in the sense that a couple will mate for life they are also at the same time sexually promiscuous in that the paired female will still mate with other males too. And the practically unheard of thing is that once the female has laid eggs and those eggs hatch, the other males will help take care of the young right along with the couple. Talk about taking a village.

But the really interesting thing about fairywrens is that they love to talk smack. Yes, when a predator rolls around and any sane bird will try to keep its head as far down as possible, the male fairy wren will start chirping its head off. Why, you may ask (although I suspect you may already have a clue). Why else? To impress the ladies. To be perfectly honest it’s a little surprising there are any left the way the males practically throw themselves in front of any and all predators, all in the name of love. I suppose they should have had a talk with Meatloaf first.