LESSONS FROM NATURE

Do Fair-Weather Buddies Mirror Our Feathered Friends?

Or it could be the other way around: our feathered friends mirror our fair-weather buddies

MY visiting daughter asked why the bird food and the bird feeders in the garden were the types intended for little birds.

“Finches, tits, house sparrows, wrens, thrushes, blackbirds — I like to feed them,” I said.

“Because they’re cute?” Was there sarcasm concealed in my daughter’s tone?

“What’s wrong with that?” I answered her question with a question.

“Birds bigger that those need to eat, too.”

“Pigeons get fed, too. They try to feed on the little ones’ fat balls. Magpies, as well, in pairs, hunt for worms on the lawn and the ground.”

“With difficulty,” my daughter, a certified animal lover, noted, “as they cling with their life on the small feeders and peck on the food.”

In fairness to her, she got me thinking about it.

Birds bigger that the little cuties have to eat, too. They need their food, which should be placed on bird feeders and bird tables that are easily accessible by them.

Like us, humans, our feathered friends of any size need to survive.

Such thoughts were on my mind when my husband and I recently moved to a property with a more spacious garden.

It has established trees, bushes, and flowering plants. It was a pleasant environment for the bees, beetles, butterflies and the other insects getting their sustenance from my new garden.

It was also, for me, a source of pleasure as I watched the birds having a good time in our garden.

They feed, they drink, they water-bathe, they dust-bathe, they play.

I’ve also observed a pair of collared doves and another pair of wood pigeons making out on top of the paneled wall, under concealment (or so they thought) by the foliage overhang.

It was so worth it to get up at 5:00 in the morning and watch the feathered friends’ activities!

But when the delivery of bird food was delayed for a few days, its consequences were unexpected.

All the fruits in the little blueberry tree were all gone. The birds ate the berries, ripe or still green. I actually did not mind the birds eating them all.

What I mind was the bulbs of my early spring flowers, which were “resting” in tubs and outdoor planters, being dug. The bulbs were pecked on, their outer layers gone.

My lesson here courtesy of a gardener friend: cover the tubs and planters when flowering had finished so the birds (or squirrels which I have yet to see) could not destroy the bulbs.

Biggest lesson from feathered friends

On the third day of not having replenished the bird feeders and the bird tables with food, the garden felt eerily quiet. There wasn’t even a quick tweet from the songbirds that start my day brightly.

The birds who hang out in our garden must have gone to their other sources of food.

That was a relief, of course, until it occurred to me that they were like fair-weather friends.

They who would hang around, make contact for favors, invite themselves to any and all gatherings for free this-and-that, but who would abandon you when you have nothing to give.

For sure, I am blessed in that I have no fair-weather friends.

But the feeling of being deserted by my feathered friends, just because the bird feeders and the bird tables were empty, was real.

(Or, am I being a drama queen?)

But humans, as much as the birds, are wired to prioritize survival.

It’s in our nature.

It’s in the birds’ nature.

And while fair-weather friends could hurt and disappoint us, our feathered friends could not.

How could birds disappoint us with their role as essential pollinators and in keeping our environment healthy? A UN study has also tagged the birds for their ecosystem services.

I would rather that the birds in my garden forsake me briefly while awaiting their food delivery. Our feathered friends have proven worth in nature, while fair-weather friends have not — except as bitter personal lessons.

Frankly, it was a disservice to the birds to compare them with false friends.

Thank you for reading.

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