Years ago (late 90s) I had a similar experience. My son and I were birding at
the George Washington Birthplace National Monument in Colonial Beach, VA. As
we walked along, in the distance we saw what looked like a dead duck on the
beach. We could see 2-3 ducks in the water congregating close to where the
dead duck lay. As we got closer we saw that they were all Common Goldeneyes.
They noticed us and retreated about 20’ from shore. After we had passed we
turned to watch and saw them swim back to the dead Goldeneye.
On our return trip, again they retreated from the shore until we had passed by,
then returned to the dead Goldeneye once more. We watched them a while longer,
and when we finally left, they were still there with the dead Goldeneye. What
were they doing? I don’t know. But it seemed to my son and I that they were
mourning in some way, or perhaps hoping the dead Goldeneye would rouse and join
them. Who knows, but we felt mournful for them.
Lori Markoff
Eugene (South Hills)
From: obol-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:obol-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of ;
Kevin Smith
Sent: Thursday, July 07, 2016 1:50 PM
To: OBOL
Subject: [obol] Understanding
I've always been of the opinion that animals have and show feelings for their
fellows and this was exhibited again this morning. Kei and I were going into
town and passed a crumpled bunch of feathers in the road. At the same moment a
female California Quail ran out to the feathers and stood by them almost to the
second we passed before running back to the safety of the ditch and again after
we passed I could see her running back into traffic to 'stand by her man' so to
speak. We turned around and returned to the dead male quail which I picked up
and tossed towards the calling female. We left before observing whether the
female again came to be with her mate.
We've all seen and heard of similar examples and have heard the general
'poo-poos' of people who don't understand. We do, understand, that is.
Kevin Smith
