The Backyard Incident
Every year a pair of robins take up residence on a back porch light outside our family back door. I am not sure why they chose this spot since it is precariously close to our comings and goings. They get upset at us every time a family member goes in or out the door. I figure they may like the security the location affords them against predators for when their chicks hatch. This year we noticed three hatchlings in the nest. Their mother and father would diligently feed them, and we saw them grow quickly in their first 10 days of life. We were excited with anticipation for the day they would leave the security of their nest. We knew that departure day would be a natural event, but undoubtedly a traumatic one for the robin family. Little did we know how traumatic it would end up being.
On Tuesday of this past week, we heard a cacophony of birds frantically chirping in our backyard. We rushed to look outside to see about a dozen robins and a host of house sparrows flying around all excitedly and chirping madly. We could sense that trouble was afoot. We then saw the reason for their frenetic behavior. A large raven had found one of the fledglings as it had exited the nest. The raven had it firmly in its beak and was trying to fly off with it. All the other birds were swarming around it and diving at it as it tried to gulp down the fledgling robin. They finally chased it away and we went outside to see the other two babies sitting on the patio. One looked like it was fine, and its parents were tending to it while the other looked traumatized and mortally injured. I can imagine that the raven would have come back and taken all three if it was not for the onslaught it received from the small but fierce avian protectors.
As I reflect on this incident there are three thoughts that baffle me as a novice backyard bird watcher. My first thought is how did this raven know where to find its prey so quickly when we had never seen it in the area before? Wasn’t the location of the robin’s nest right next to the house a secure enough location? My second thought is what prompted all of the small birds in the area to come together to try to fend off this “bully” raven from attacking this vulnerable fledgling robin on it first venture out of the nest? These other birds were not involved in the feeding and nurturing of these robins; however, they were compelled to protect it. Do birds send out distress signals when one of their own is attacked? I am sure an ornithologist could answer these questions, but I like to ruminate on them, nevertheless. My third thought centers on the concept of biomimicry. What can I learn from the drama that played out in my backyard? Do we as humans display the same level of courage as displayed by the backyard protectors when the most vulnerable in our society are threatened? The question is more poignant if I reflect that it was a host of unrelated birds who took on this mantle of protector. The Biomimicry Institute defines it as “a practice that learns from and mimics the strategies used by living organisms to solve challenges comparable to the ones we face as individuals …” I know that I learned something from the birds today during the backyard incident. It is true that there were casualties in the incident, but there was also survival and a spirit of unity in standing up to an oppressor of the most vulnerable.