As I was driving to work a few days ago(I have seven miles of narrow country road before I get on the highway), I saw a female cardinal on the road next to her dead mate. He hadn’t been there long, and she got out of the road and returned to him after I passed. (I watched her in my rearview mirror).
I felt a bit bad for her, though he had undoubtedly been showing off for her and playing chicken with the oncoming cars. I know they do this, it happened to me not a week before this, and I actually hit one once when I was in Gulfport, MS. He was dive-bombing me and ran smack into my grill. They seem to do this a lot in the spring. For whatever reason. And as far as I know, it’s only cardinals.
So, if fruit flies get drunk when they get turned down, is it possible that she was mourning him? Was she getting in a last “I told you so!”? If she has already laid her eggs will she just abandon them?

Topics: psychology, ornithology, courting behaviour, suicidal tendencies, birdbrain