I am not talking to you

Are bird tempermental? I mean do they do things like not talking to each other for several days? Or is that just a human thing. I know I have seen some pretty human things from them.

I remember a cat I had back in college. She would lay in the front yard and the mocking birds would come and perch on branches near her. She would pretend not to notice.

Then the game would be for the birds to swoop down and try to rattle her. She would continue to feign inattention -- it was a game of chicken. More and more daring, the birds would sweep closer on their strafing runs toward her. Time after time, she would look away, totally unbothered.

Then on one bombing run, a bird would come into her air space and she would spring suddenly to life and swipe at them. She would occasionally knock them out of the air. A few times she even grabbed one in mid flight -- it was after one of these episodes that I would get a gift.

But the pair of pigeons in the photo today seem to be having just an ordinary lover's spat. "I'm not talking to you, and I'm not telling you why."

--steve buser