Shifting the Workload.

I saw another daddy blackbird with his two daughters on the bird table today, loading his beak with rolled oats as fast as his poor head could bob up and down. The two girlies stood expectantly on the rim of the table, beaks open wide enough to put the planet Jupiter in peril, while poor dad did his level best to share the oats equally between them.

‘Gimme, gimme, gimme,’ said the girls.

‘How many beaks do you think I’ve got?’ grumbled the parent.

Ah, but then the old fella began the process of educating the expectant ones. He began to offer the oats, but drew back just before they reached the target. The message was simple enough to interpret.

‘See these oats? You don’t have to wait for me to pick them up; you can do it yourself. Watch me carefully, now.’

The offspring eventually got the message and dad flew off to take a well earned break. And, you know, it’s rare to see the mother bird go to all that trouble. Maybe she has more faith in her daughters’ ability to fend for themselves, or maybe she feels that she’s already done enough in the matter of bringing up babies and the old guy can do some work for a change. Isn’t it ever the woman’s way.