The Kid Should See This

Widow birds bounce and leap for attention

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Sporting their long and glossy tails, male Jackson’s widowbirds (Euplectes jacksoni) can be found leaping straight up in the tall grasses of Kenya and Tanzania. The reason for their leaps: to impress a female during mating season.

Watch a dramatized moment from the Maasai Mara National Reserve in this clip from Planet Earth II: Grasslands, narrated by Sir David Attenborough. The internet has us covered with a number of gifs. Here are two:

jumping widow bird
planet earth widow bird promo
Watch more clips from Planet Earth II, more jumping, more birds, more mating, and this:

Male Blue Manakins wait in line to impress a female.


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