Naturalist's Almanac

Every year on February 14, we celebrate Saint Valentine's Day. Who was Saint Valentine, and why do we celebrate love on his feast day? There are several theories, but the one I find most intriguing attributes the love connection to birds.

Scholars aren't sure exactly who the historic Valentine was, but he's remembered as a martyr, not a lover. His feast day has since been dropped from the church calendar, so his only lasting contribution to today's Valentine's Day is his name.

As for the birds, medieval Christians observed that some of them were mating at the time of Saint Valentine's feast. They therefore decided to believe that all birds chose their mates on February 14. In the early 1380s Chaucer offered a written record of this belief in his long love poem, The Parliament of Fowls: "For this was on St. Valentine's Day/When every fowl cometh there to choose his mate."

From the medieval folk belief about birds, it wasn't much of a leap to decide that human beings should choose their mates on Saint Valentine's Day too — or at least engage in games and rituals associated with mating. Actually, this birds/Valentine's Day connection is not too far-fetched. Even in snowy Vermont, several species of birds have begun to mate by February.

If you go outdoors on Valentine's eve, for instance, you might hear owls hooting. The owls I hear most often, the eight-hooters known as barred owls, can be courting loudly by mid-February. Eastern screech-owls can be courting too. The largest of our common owls, the great horneds, might already be sitting on their eggs.

After sunrise on Valentine's Day itself you might hear black-capped chickadees practicing their territorial fee-bee songs and hairy woodpeckers drumming on hollow trees to re-establish their pair-bonds. But perhaps the most observable of these early birds is the plain old pigeon. Vermont's pigeons are often in the advanced stages of courting by Valentine's Day and have been known to have young in their nests by early March.

So as you're thinking about Valentine's Day, alert yourself to subtle shifts in bird behavior. For birds, this time of year has nothing to do romantic love. Their behavior is a very real biological response to the changing seasons, with some species already bonded or forming the bonds that will produce, protect, and launch their young.

And isn't that probably what our human Valentine's Day — whatever its various roots — was originally all about?

MORE INFORMATION

History Channel
http://www.historychannel.com/exhibits/valentine/

The History Channel offers interesting background information, attractive graphics, and some nice love stories about couples like the Trumans, the Brownings, and the Jackie Robinsons.

Catholic Encyclopedia
http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/15254a.htm

New Advent offers the Catholic Encyclopedia online. Their entry on St. Valentine tells what is known about who he might have been with links to additional historical information. They mention Chaucer and the connection between St. Valentine’s Day and birds.

Valentine's Day - Wikipedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Valentine's_Day

The Wikipedia entry on Valentine's Day will tell you more than you ever wanted to know about Valentine's Day.