[TN-Bird] My Little Chickadee (an editorial) NY TIMES
- From: Dthomp2669@xxxxxxx
- To: BRDBRAIN@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx, Flabirding@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx, tn-bird@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Thu, 3 Mar 2005 08:20:31 EST
Hello Birders,
I thought you might enjoy this editorial from today's NY TIMES. It makes
sense to me, as I am almost positively certain that I know which of my bossy
mockingbirds is which from the "personalities" they show during my involvement
in
feeding them. The same is becoming true with some of my cardinals in the way
that they show food preferences and behave within the group. Hmmm. Wonder if
I am imagining things brought on by the fact that I majored in psychology
before changing to education while doing my undergraduate studies at Rollins
College? Nah, I really DO see the differences in the behaviors of these birds!
Cheers & prayers,
Dee Thompson
Nashville, TN
EDITORIAL
My Little Chickadee
Published: March 3, 2005
ird feeders across much of America are mobbed with black-capped chickadees at
this time of year. Can you tell them apart, one by one? Probably not; it's
hard enough to distinguish male from female in this species, let alone
recognize
individuals in a flock. But scientists are starting to suggest that if we
look closely enough, we can distinguish birds of a single species by
personality.
A team of Dutch scientists, testing a European relative of the chickadee, has
found that some birds are shy and others are bold, broad personality
differences that have a genetic foundation. This finding doesn't erode the
basic
differences between Homo sapiens and Poecile atricapillus (the black-capped
chickadee). But it substantially enlarges the similarities.
We take the range of personalities among individuals in our species for
granted, yet it seems surprising to think of similar diversity in other
species.
Many people find the implications of that genuinely shocking. If bird
personalities have a strong genetic and evolutionary basis, there is good
reason to
suspect that human personalities do, too.
Humans do not like to think of themselves as animals. Nor do they like to
think that their behavior may have genetic or evolutionary roots. But the
richer
perspective - morally and intellectually - lies in examining and coming to
terms with the kinship of all life. There's a certain tragic isolation in
believing that humans stand apart in every way from the creatures that surround
them,
that the rest of creation was shaped exclusively for our use. The real fruit
of that perspective is, in fact, tragic isolation on an earth that has been
eroded by our moral assumptions. Science has something much wiser to tell us
about who we are. So do the birds around us.
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