For the Birds

I have a condo that is half of a duplex with a nice big yard, but we're not allowed to put things out in the yard that could interfere with the landscape people who mow and take care of the outside. I recently found these suction hangers that hold bird feeders and so I have a couple of bird feeders attached the my windows of my family room. Some birds have started to come to the feeder but they have not been found by that many birds yet. In my travels to Massachusetts this week I again visited with my friends Don & Tammy Blackwell. I had spent time there last summer when I took the attached picture on Don's deck. I sat in the early morning this week and watched the birds come and go from the feeders. It amazed me how they come as families. First several titmice come flittering in and out then almost as if it were according to some unknown signal they would stop coming and it would be time for the cardinal family, then maybe the sparrow family or tribe and then maybe the bluejays and separately a flicker or a dove. It was orchestrated segregation of the bird feeder. It seemed to me strange that the different kinds of birds didn't seem to be able to share the same feeder at the same time. What is it about nature that creates such separation. It seems as though fear or something just inserts itself into the middle of so many opportunities for humans the same way. We cling in our own little worlds holding onto our own little notions about life and about others who might be included or excluded from it. Maybe it is more natural than we think, but with our human intelligence we ought to be able to overcome what apparently functions in other parts of the natural order. Don says the bluejays are the bullies in the crowd. I've met a few of those in human groups as well. We let the strong manipulate others sometimes and we all lose in the bargain. All I can say is as far as I'm concerned this separation is for the birds.