A Bump on a Pole

The presence of pigeons  indicates a metropolitan area. Pigeons follow human congestion. That is not altogether a bad thing. If you don’t believe me, look at the little bump on the left side of the power pole in this photo. The bump is a bird that would not be there if it were not for the pigeons.

The bump eats pigeons for a living.

We humans tried hard to kill that bump on the power pole. We sprayed DDT on everything we could think of and the DDT almost wiped out the bump and its entire species.

The bump is a magnificent bird and the fastest animal on the planet. And, because it is such a magnificent bird, we stopped spraying DDT, in part, just to save it. What is more, we do it a big favor by living in cities, because the pigeons live with us and provide a rich diet for the bird.

Here is a close up.

Peregrine Falcons miss nothing within the range of their vision. In this photo, it is deciding whether I am friend or foe or food.

Even in our cities, we are not apart from nature, we are a part of nature.

Just a Thought

Bottlenose dolphin from treehugger.com

Here is a thought from Douglas Adams, the writer and dramatist who died in 2001.  I was thinking of this watching the Grand Canyon Ravens last week.  By exchanging “fly around” for “swim in the water” and “eat anything” for ” eat fish”, you get exactly the same thought about animal intelligence.

Humans think they are smarter than dolphins because we build cars and buildings and start wars etc., and all that dolphins do is swim in the water, eat fish and play around. Dolphins believe that they are smarter for exactly the same reasons.