Many people has watched the beautiful and elegant courtship display of the Woodpigeon: the male positions himself in front of the female (often doing these little comical jumps), then bows while opening and closing his tail while calling. I had seen it while craning my neck, as this often takes place on tree branches or rooftops. A few months ago I surprised a pair of Woodpigeons on the ground, the male courting. As I watched with my binoculars, the male was right in front of me and the angle was such that I could see (or at least imagine) what the female Woodpigeons sees: the bright while neck patches growing as the male calls, the iridescent neck plumage, the beautiful symmetry of the tail and the rhythm of the whole display. Unfortunately, I had interrupted the moment and the female flew away, followed by the male. This afternoon I decided to sketch it, using some photos as reference and the information of a blog, where the display and unusual ‘eye flashing’, when the male’s pupil changes size independently of light conditions is described (http://www.khil.net/blog/?p=3405).
Bird Sketches 