Subject: [Tweeters] Robins move right in
Date: Feb 12 22:30:04 2008
From: Rob Sandelin - floriferous at msn.com
So today one of our class tasks was to move some large piles of previous cut
blackberry off our planting area. We removed two of them before lunch and
as we assembled on the trail to walk back to school a half dozen robins flew
in and began seriously scarfing down worms and other stuff. Then later that
afternoon when we got to the bottom of the third pile, the robins, now a
full dozen, didn't even wait until we had left the site before swooping on
the prize. This behavior led to a discussion as we walked back to school
about how birds acclimatize to people, especially around food, which then in
turn led to discussions about the domestication of animals and how that
changed human kind from hunter gatherers to civilizations. Lots of
interesting ideas all sparked by an observation of birds.
Rob Sandelin
Naturalist, Writer, Teacher