Nature as a Mother - as Terry Pratchett put it.
By hvedra
@hvedra (1619)
April 28, 2010 6:35am CST
Today the blackbirds that are nesting in a tree at the front of our house lost their offspring to a crow. The crow came twice and I tried to scare it away the second time by opening the upstairs window and yelling at it but it was no good. (Although I did scare a man who was walking by at the time!).
I feel sad because the male blackbird wakes me up most mornings with his singing and he and the female have been hanging around when I do work in the front garden.
What was quite sweet was that all the other birds tried to mob the crow to drive it away, even the little ones like dunnocks and robins attacked it, as well as a collared dove and other blackbirds. Blackbirds are quite territorial amongst themselves but I guess for emergencies they ignore that because predators are a bigger threat.
The female is still quite distressed, she's chirping and flitting around the garden not sure of what to do with herself.
I try to remember that nature isn't "cute" and that things like this happen but part of me is going "but those are MY birds!" even though they are not.
Do you find that some aspects of nature upset you sometimes?
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3 responses
@bestboy19 (5478)
• United States
28 Apr 10
I know how you feel. We have bushes in front of our house. Years ago, a cardinal built its nest in the bush outside our dining room. We got to see the eggs and then the babies, but one morning, the nest was torn apart, the babies and parents all gone. The babies were too young to fly. We don't know if it was our neighbors cat or a crow that did the deed. It angered us, though. Like you, we felt those were our cardinals and babies.
Yes, there are some aspects of nature that do upset me, but if I don't have to see them, it's not quite so bad. I can accept it. That's why I don't care for nature shows showing the survival side of nature. I know it has to be, but I don't have to look at it.
@hvedra (1619)
•
30 Apr 10
Well, there's a follow up to this...
My efforts to scare off the second attack were more successful than I thought. I thought the crow had got the fledgling but it hadn't. It had either fallen or jumped out of the nest and ended up on the ground. I didn't discover this until the late afternoon because my dog found it.
It was okay other than being stuck on the ground because it could flutter but not fly. This was why the female was so agitated all day. I got it back up to the tree where it hopped into the denser branches. The male continued to feed it but the female took a while to calm down and start feeding it again.
It is still there two days later and the parents are still feeding it so I think as long as the crow doesn't work out where it is now it should be okay.
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@celticeagle (189820)
• Boise, Idaho
30 Apr 10
Cool. Animals are amusing. I am watching AFV.
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@bestboy19 (5478)
• United States
2 May 10
I'm glad things are working out for your birds. I wish they had for ours. It was such a joy to watch them.
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@ANTIQUELADY (36440)
• United States
28 Apr 10
i'M SORRY U LOST ONE OF YOUR BIRDS. tO BE QUITE HONEST I HATE BLACKBIRDS. tHEY BOMBARB our town every year & mess & gam around till they cause a health issue. One year they made just a mess in the park here it had to be closed & everything had to be cleaned up professionally. They come in droves & it is horrible. Last year my neighbor across the street couldn't even go out in her back yard the bird poop was soo bad.
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@ANTIQUELADY (36440)
• United States
30 Apr 10
I'm glad u were able to rescue them. Have a great weekend.
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@hvedra (1619)
•
30 Apr 10
See my response to bestboy19 above, one of the fledglings survived. Yay!
The European blackbird and the American variety are very different. The European Turdus Merula only tends to gather in flocks in the winter and usually no more than a dozen birds at a time, so we don't have those kinds of problems you do with your Blackbirds.
I know in the States you also have problems with European Starlings - because some genius thought it would be cool to import all the birds mentioned by Shakespeare! Starlings do gather in huge flocks of thousands and their droppings can be a problem.
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@celticeagle (189820)
• Boise, Idaho
28 Apr 10
Yes, it does upset me alot of the time. But it is the circle of life. The small or unfirm become food for the strong and upper ranks. If it wasn't this way there would be crazy with alot more desease and over population. It is sad sometimes but it is logical and a needed aspect of life.
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