Ah, the albatross. Nature's funny, funny bird. They crash land (which has been hysterically documented), they are silly looking with that seabird body and giant duck feet, and their mating dance, well let's just say the ritual is worth the watch. The clacking of the beaks, the strutting, head bobs, sideways glancing, it all looks too eerily familiar, says People. It reminds them, and probably all who watch, of the human mating ritual found at any bar hotspot where couples meet.
So when Philip Nails was vacationing in the Galapagos Islands, he was treated to this silly dance and to the delight of us all, he captured it on footage. Watch it and see the "dance," cheer on the hopeless, hapless little guy trying to find his girlfriend and impress her.
Watch as two Galapagos albatrosses find each other in a sea of others, and separate from the flock, to start the process, to find common ground, to see if they "click" by clacking. Clacking beaks, honking, locking jaws, advancing on each other, enthralling is what The Telegraph calls it. You be the judge.
And for an added treat, see some teenage albatrosses seeing the ocean for the first time and learning to fly. The huge duck feet running across the water with wings-a-flapping is too funny not to watch. So are the insane hairdos as they reach puberty and adulthood - mohawks, fluffy '70s afros - all are just about the cutest, silliest things we've seen in a long time.
And not to leave you without a crash landing, this 15 second video gives you not one but two failed landings. The Albatross just can't seem to get it together. Enjoy these two attempts at getting it right:
