Bird watching proclivities are believed by researchers to increase with age. Is that the same as studying sex-drive declines and reporting that male hairlines recede as well? Relevance is always in the pen of the researcher. As baby boomers age, they take on all sorts of crusades and causes. For me, that madness manifests in the form of feeding birds I have never met.
Birds come to my bird feeder from all over the neighborhood and possibly migrate from foreign countries. Who knows where these migrant birds come from? Who can tell? Birds, after all, look alike. There are short ones, big ones, dark ones, white ones, loud ones, quiet ones, but they all have feathers and fly. I am not really concerned where they come from, let me state up front -- as long as they are beautiful and sing pretty.
In this upcoming best bird yard election year I have been wondering, lately, how their presence will impact the birds that already live in my area. Will there be enough food, shelter, and clothing for these newcomers? Will they contribute to the social cohesiveness if they don’t sing the same songs? Will they fight? Could I make little signs with matchstick pickets for the smarter birds to hold up in order to keep the other ones away? Should I make bird-friendly voting machines?
What have I started? What began as one pound of birdseed and old bread thrown, as caution to the wind, in the yard whenever I thought about it for an occasional bird visitor, has now ballooned into 50-100 birds in my backyard everyday, three times a day, looking for a beakful, a hand out — I mean a beak out. What if they get sick? What if they die? Who's going to take care of them or bury them? I found the cat feasting on one of the slow-moving pigeons the other day.
They keep coming back despite the dangers my backyard holds for them. In fact, more of the songbirds and cardinals have appeared whenever I put out the really good birdseed. This then leads to infighting over scarce food supplies, or plentiful, depending on how you see it.
Will this make them more apt to vote for my yard — if there is no place for nesting and families? What about identification? Birds are notorious for imitating other birds. Researchers find it difficult to catch and label them for future study. They are not cooperative with humans or other birds.
Article comments
1 - Joan Hunt
As one who has lived with unexplained bird invasions, seriously, it honestly doesn't matter if you're offering quality food or not. They like you and they'll keep showing up for a while.
I once watched a hawk in relentless pursuit of "something" in my lemon tree, only to find out it was after hummingbird eggs. The other birds in the area fought the hawk for a few minutes and then gave up. Two hummingbirds, though, continued to fight and prevailed.
Nature's a wonderful thing and you're lucky to have it descending upon you.
2 - Nancy
Your comments reminded me of one of Paris Hilton's more notorious comments about how the fat, old, and ugly should be euthanized, & only the rich, young, & beautiful should be allowed to live. We ugly ducklings have purpose, too.
3 - Heloise
Thank you for your comments. I forgot to mention that one day a neighbor told me that she say a hawk in the big pecan tree next door. I thought surely she's kidding.
But only two weeks later I saw this hawk, or another, descend into my backyard and pick up one of the sparrows in its talons. I was surprised.
I do love watching nature.
Heloise
4 - Heloise
You know a famous line from St. James states that even the baby finger has a purpose and that we should not diminish its purpose because without it there would be somethings we cannot do.
The thumb however is more important in determining that we are mammals. Only mammals have opposable thumbs.
Heloise
5 - Nancy
We have eagles roosting all over the place around here (Maryland). You see a big ol' bird sitting on top of a tree, and you think, 'hawk' until he turns that profile & you see that big ol' beak jutting out - unmistakable. I watched one doing acrobatics just to amuse itself, before finally it swooped down & snatched a good-size fish out of the waters of the lake below. We also have herons wading our ponds, & wild turkeys that frequent the cornfields. I like the little songbirds, too, but the big wild stuff even better.
6 - Heloise
Eagles are more of a northern bird. I have not seen any here. Thanks for the bird's eye view. Love reading it.