THE NOTORIOUS BIRD THIEVES IN SCARBOROUGH

Is Being Cute Enough Reason To Love Birds?

What about their awe-inspiring contributions to the delicate balance of nature?

Not guilty is how I would plead to this accusation. I’m aware that birds, including the little cute ones, have roles to play like all other creatures including us, humans. I love them but not just because they are adorable.

However, I must plead guilty to being unaware of just how important birds are— without exception! — to the balance of nature.

These exceptions are in reference to a few of my encounters with naughty birds.

Bird thieves

How could I forget the time when, on holiday in a seaside town by the North Sea, a seagull swooped and snatched the chip I was eating?

Talk about my heart dropping, in shock, on the ground at the alfresco diner. Never mind the little girl close to me; she screamed in fear of the swooping thief. She also dropped her ice cream on a cone, hence, the ear-piercing bawl.

Seagulls in Scarborough are notorious thieves of chips (French fries to others, although I doubt the seagulls based in seaside North Sea would fancy stealing match-thin potato fries).

So naughty are the seagulls that there is a Chipwatch patrol in the beach area to deter the bird thieves.

Bully birds

Starlings, specifically European starlings, are bullies. They fly and hunt for food in gangs, I mean in flocks or murmuration. And woe to the little ones, the garden songbirds, that are there first in the feeder.

When a starling and its gangmates come swooping towards the feeder, the little cuties have no choice but to fly away. No more suet cake for the latter.

Starlings love suet. A greedy gang, er, I mean flock, can eat a whole suet cake with no effort.

Magpies, jackdaws and collared doves are also seen as bullies in the garden feeder, but not as much as a gang of starlings.

Having witnessed this thuggery many times in my own garden, I cannot say that I admire this bully birds.

Within a year of life without birds, man would ‘cease to exist’

“…experts have judged that if all our birds suddenly left or died, man himself would cease to exist within a year.” — Jaroslav Spirhanzl Duris and Edmund Burke, Spotting Birds; p. 7

Having read the above, I have opened my hearts to birds.

Be they bully.

Be they thieves.

Even if I recalled that family of mallards that swooped and partied on the brand-new swimming pool of my neighbour in Auckland, or the past and present misdeeds of UK pigeons dropping their poo everywhere, I have forgiven them.

Whether thieves, bully or mere “nuisance” as referred to by some, we need birds “far more than they need us”.

While bees and butterflies are the most common pollinators, birds also have a specialized and critical role in plant pollination all over the world.

Without birds, there would be no natural control of pests in crops and forests.

A study done a few years ago found that birds eat 400–500 million tons of insects a year.

The world’s food shortage, which would be a direct result of the lack of birds eating and feeding on plant and crop pests, is hard to imagine.

What surprised me, however, was the findings from a study published a little over a year ago by Lancaster University scientists.

It was found that seabird droppings, which they deposited into their colonies, leached into the ocean and fertilised the coral reefs making them thrive.

As we know, healthy coral reefs provide a habitat for marine resources and provide jobs to millions in the world.

Then, too, they protect coastal areas by reducing the power of the waves hitting the coasts.

Plant and animal extracts from the reefs are also used in developing treatments to various diseases.

With all the above info, I no longer just love the birds, especially the songbirds that hang out in my garden, because they are cute and lovable.

I also am astounded by their role in the cycle of life on earth.

As for the birds who bully the smaller ones, let’s be more patient and understanding. They have to eat, too.

By the way, I have also forgiven those beaky birdies that dug the soil in my garden. They were obviously looking for worms but, in the process, disturbed my hibernating spring bulbs.

Let’s be kinder to birds.

Let’s love them for their awe-inspiring contribution to the delicate balance of nature, and not just because they are cute and adorable.

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