There is a difference between looking and observing. You may look at a pretty picture, but you may need to observe more closely why it is the way it is. Watching Birds has taught me more things about life disregarding the assumption of birds as “bird brains”. But there seems to be more ticking in their minds, through self education and the ever present “instincts”. Here are five things that I have definitely observed.
1. Birds get up early in the morning and sleep early at night. The bird gets up early to catch the worm literally! There is this Yellow Wagtail and a RedStart that forage the dust field below my verandah each morning each competing for some tiny worm. Eating a breakfast in the morning after getting up early is another thing you can learn. So, it lives by a natural rhythm that nature intended for it in the first place.
2.Birds of different species live together in harmony. Birds don’t differentiate on basis of colour, sounds of the call or type of nest to be able to live together harmoniously on the same tree and share the same branch or eat from the same fruit. Of course predatory Kites, Vultures excluded and that’s the reason they are mostly found away from these other birds. Unlike humans who seek ownership of whichever place they find first.
3. Birds share the resources with each other. A pair of cuckoos, a Crow, a family of mynahs, a flock of 20 oriental white-eyes and many other birds live on this mango tree outside, sharing the fruit of the tree in season. They don’t fight with each other. Unless they are a bunch of noisy babblers.
4. Birds have Life skills: They know by instinct how to feed their young ones and build their own nests. They are rarely “unemployed” or “too busy” for their young ones basic needs. They have few needs and thus few skills to master. As a result also the young ones mature fast and learn how to fly & live independently.
5.Birds are Adaptable: When it is icy cold in northern hemisphere in winters and the waters freeze, they fly south to better “pastures” by migrating. But they seldom do this alone, they migrate in large numbers and always willing to make the journey year after year. So when a change is required, they make the change happen , rather than wait for something to happen.
The Wanderer 