Sorry to bum y’all out again about the joys of spring, but…
You remember my post the other day about the green bird at our feeder? Down in the comments, I shared a beautiful bluebird photo from Jim Greene up in Virginia, who has a much better camera than my iPhone.
Well, in an email over the weekend, Jim shared some less-lovely images from bluebirddom.
Above, you see a couple of males engaged in combat. Down below, you see something more unusual — a fight between two females.
The good news is that Jim says there appeared to be no injuries. More of a harmless bluebirds-will-be-bluebirds matter. But it’s not always that way. A couple of weeks back, my wife was shocked to see images on a South Carolina birding Facebook page of a fight to the death between two males. It kind of darkened her perception of a beloved species.
Have they always been like this? Jim said he’d never seen bluebirds acting this way, despite his years of nature photography — and now he has documentation of both males and females mixing it up! Is this evidence of a recent breakdown in bluebird culture?
What could have caused this increase of bitter polarization among the members of this handsome species? Social media? Probably. Yeah, let’s go with that. Remember, you read it here first…
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Of course, the headline was a play on this cliche…
And for those unfamiliar with the Anthony Burgess term I used…
May the Bluebird of happiness crap all over your cake.
Man has really messed up our ecosystems and the long term damage caused as we enter the Anthropocentric Era are concerning at the least. Perhaps the battles are environmental.
Perhaps emotional? There is not as much love in the world as when I was a child. Let’s identify the problem, admit to it, then perhaps begin the healing. Listening to the Children (my nascent nonprofit) will help. They always can use more love.
Leaving my Filipina family soon. Wife Ana Liza wants to live in New York; I suppose that works part of the time. Depends on the Conventions (old school) and November; I tire of serving and protecting darkness.
But without darkness there is no greatness. I understand.