Birds have long fascinated us, not just for their grace in flight but for the connections they form with each other. Over time, some bird couples have captured our attention with their remarkable loyalty, resilience, and sometimes friendship. These avian duos—whether separated by great distances or bound by shared challenges—show us what dedication truly looks like. Here are some of their stories.
Klepetan and Malena
In 1993, a Croatian janitor named Stjepan Vokić discovered an injured female white stork in a pond. She had been shot by hunters and, though she survived, the injury left her unable to fly. Vokić brought her home to his village, Brodski Varoš, where he nursed her back to health and named her Malena. Years later, in 2001, a male stork—whom Vokić named Klepetan—began visiting her. Each spring, Klepetan would arrive, spend time with Malena, then leave in late summer, only to return the following year.
Curious about the male stork’s journey, Vokić attached a GPS tracker to Klepetan’s leg. When he retrieved it the next year, he was amazed but not surprised to find that Klepetan had travelled all the way from South Africa—a journey of 13,000 kilometers, taking a full month to complete.
Their remarkable long-distance relationship turned Malena and Klepetan into local celebrities in Croatia. While Klepetan was away, Vokić cared for their chicks, as Malena couldn’t hunt due to her injury. He built them a nest, provided shelter, and fed them. He even bathed Malena and applied cream to her feet to keep them from drying out, as she was far from her natural wetland habitat. They even watched TV together.
For nearly two decades, this romance continued until Malena passed away in 2021. Yet, even in her absence, Klepetan has returned every year to Brodski Varoš, visiting the spot beneath the apple tree where Malena is buried in the school garden. Though Klepetan reportedly found a new mate named Mlada, he has never forgotten his late partner.
“It’s such a remarkable love; I couldn’t believe it, and now I’m sure birds remember,” Vokić reflected.
Also read: The World’s Oldest Bird is 64, And She Just Laid an Egg
Blossom and Frankie
In April 2018, a pair of geese settled at Riverside Cemetery in Marshalltown, Iowa, near Lake Woodmere, and made it their home. Dorie Tammen, the cemetery's general manager, named them Blossom and Bud, after two infants buried there in 1888.
In 2022, Bud passed away after being attacked, likely by a coyote or fox. Heartbroken, Blossom began isolating herself from other birds and spent hours staring at her reflection in a shiny black sample tombstone near the cemetery office.
Moved by her loneliness, Tammen decided Blossom needed a new companion. On February 10, 2023, he posted a personal ad on Facebook:
"Lonely, widowed domestic goose seeks life partner for companionship and occasional shenanigans. Come share life with me at Riverside Cemetery, where you'll enjoy swimming in the lovely lake, good food, numerous friends, and peeking in the door of the office building at the strange but kind humans there, who feed us lots of goodies. I'm youthful, adventurous, and lively, and I've been told I'm beautiful."
Fifty miles away in Runnells, Deb and Randy Hoyt saw the ad through a friend and immediately thought of their goose, Frankie, who had recently lost his own partner in another animal attack.
Frankie, too, was grieving. “He was alone and just lonely,” Hoyt explained.
Hoyt reached out to Tammen, and they agreed to introduce Frankie to Blossom on Valentine’s Day 2023. However, the initial meeting didn’t go as planned. As soon as Frankie was released, he flew off and disappeared. Fortunately, he was found the next morning and brought back for another introduction. This time, Frankie warmed to Blossom, and the two have been inseparable ever since. Now, they spend their days exploring the cemetery's park-like grounds and swimming together on its two-acre pond.
Roy and Silo
In the early 2000s, news broke of a same-sex penguin couple at New York City’s Central Park Zoo. Roy and Silo, two male chinstrap penguins born in 1987, were observed by zoo staff performing mating rituals—entwining their necks and vocalizing mating calls. Sometimes they tried to steal eggs from other penguin couples, and one of them even attempted to hatch a rock as if it were an egg.
To see how they would handle a real one, zookeepers gave Roy and Silo an egg. The pair diligently incubated it for 34 days and spent two and a half months raising a healthy female chick, whom the zookeepers named Tango. Interestingly, Tango later showed signs of same-sex bonding, often seen with another female penguin named Tanuzi.
Roy and Silo gained widespread attention after their story appeared in The New York Times, with some viewing their bond as a reflection of modern family structures. Their relationship inspired Justin Richardson to write the children’s book And Tango Makes Three, which tells the story of two male penguins raising a chick.
However, the couple’s relationship eventually unravelled. In May 2004, two more aggressive penguins ousted Roy and Silo from their nest. By 2005, Silo had formed a new partnership with a female penguin named Scrappy, who had arrived from SeaWorld Orlando in 2002, while Roy paired up with another male penguin named Blue.
Roy and Silo’s story sparked debate, particularly among conservative groups, who celebrated their breakup. One commenter remarked, "For those who saw Roy and Silo as models, these developments must be disappointing. Some gay activists might actually be angry." In response, a spokesperson for the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force pointed out that the behaviour of two penguins was hardly a definitive argument about sexual orientation.
Same-sex behaviour is common across many animal species, and Roy and Silo were not even the first male penguin couple in New York; in 2002, a pair named Wendell and Cass was reported at the New York Aquarium. Same-sex penguin pairs have also been documented in zoos worldwide, from Germany to the UK, China, and Australia.
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