Sometimes people ask why I slog around in the wilderness. I even ask myself.
Yesterday, on my way home I drove into a forest, parked at the trailhead and walked around.
Saw Eastern Kingbirds, a Brown-headed Cowbird, Eastern Bluebirds, Tree Swallows, nothing real newsworthy.
But they are the answer: I go to the wilderness because that’s where the birds are.
This reminded me of a quote attributed to bank robber Willie Sutton. When asked by a reporter, “Why do you rob banks?” Sutton is said to have replied, “Because that’s where the money is.”
This became famous, and a standard by which we’re taught to look for the obvious. Some medical schools teach it as “Sutton’s law.”
Trouble is, he never said it.
The reporter made it up. One crook being misquoted by another crook. Yeah, a journalist who lies is a crook.
And speaking of crooks, back to the birds I saw yesterday…
One was a true crook. The Brown-headed Cowbird. Cowbirds are famous for being infamous, like Willie Sutton.
A cowbird will sneak into another bird’s unattended nest, lay an egg alongside the ones that belong. And take off.
It won’t do any hatching or feeding. It will enjoy the easy life of a crook.
The honest citizen who sits on the nest unknowingly feeds a fast-growing baby cowbird, along with the young birds that should be there.
This new cowbird muscles the others aside and steals most of the food. Sometimes it kicks the others out. They die.
The cowbird continues to grow, then starts a life elsewhere. It’ll mate, and lay an egg in the nest of another unsuspecting bird. The crooked lifestyle continues.
A reader of ours recently sent a picture she took, showing a Yellow-throated Warbler feeding its supposed baby, really a cowbird.
The “baby” is bigger than the mother. You nailed this crook, Cindy. Thanks for the picture.
I rather think the cowbird is a micro-mirror of our society. It is basically a parasite and depends only the willingness of its hosts for it to feed, grow and survive, often at the expense of its hosts. Much like our society, we find reasons to continue the status quo and keep the parasites.
Imagine that, a bird with criminal propensities. The cow bird is a reverse larcenist, instead of pilfering, it’s proffering, although nevertheless to its own nefarious interests. When even the birds are outlaws, what hope is there for humankind? Marc