There’s a webcam that has been watching a nest full of ospreys growing up, and the birds were almost ready to begin their flying lessons. Then…they get a visitor.
Is there a metaphor somewhere in this comment about America’s national bird?
The predation of an Osprey nest by an eagle might come as a surprise to many, but eagles are the ultimate opportunists. “They take what’s around and what’s available,” Kress says. And while the activity from the Audubon Camp located nearby usually keeps them away, in the end, “there’s nothing you can really do.”
We should have gone with the Wild Turkey, praised by Benjamin Franklin (although it’s a myth that he wanted it as a national bird).
I think the one on the right is particularly interesting. Is it pretending to be dead/hiding?
re @1:
and gave us a really fun song in the history-Musical 1776.
A Egg!”
– An Egg
– A Egg!!
…
our community theatre [sic] did that during that summer of the bicentennial. awfully fun. one show even threw in deliberate mispronunciations [quoted above] to enrage the enthusiastic director. Fun
True, having the Bald Eagle as a national symbol is not particularly complimentary to America. The species is, indeed, a lazy opportunist – when not scavenging dead fish, it steals.
On Vancouver Island, I once watched as one circled high above an Osprey; when the latter bird caught something, the eagle swooped down and threatened the Osprey, forcing it to drop its quarry, and then grabbed it (the fish) before it hit the water.
Of course, nothing morally wrong with kleptoparasitism in nature; there are whole families of other birds that practise it (jaegers, frigates). It’s just maybe not the ideal way to symbolize one’s country.
#2, Saganite
Yes, apparently. Following the link at the top of the OP reveals all. Or at least more.
Near as I can tell, they picked off one of the three ospreys (the one on our left). Of course the others are still not out of the woods…
I wouldn’t say that is a “new meaning”, I think it was always kind of implied: “the eagles are coming! Thank the Valar they are on OUR side!”
The orcs, on the other hand, surely felt like those ospreys.
Since it was mentioned above: “The Egg” from 1776.
http://oglaf.com/ornithology/
contains the word ‘fuck’, otherwise safe
The osprey brood’s difference in behavior is very interesting. The middle one sees the attack coming and gets away, the one on the left sees it much later and gets taken, and the one on the right sticks its head into the nest pretending everything will be fine its fine now everything is awesome thank you.
@quotetheunquote,
Hey, kleptoparasitism is awesome. It takes hard work and talent to successfully steal other predators’ kills, just like it takes hard work and talent to kill prey yourself. Frigatebirds can pull it off because they’re insanely agile in the air; crows and ravens can pull it off because they’re really clever; bald eagles can pull it off because they’re big and badass and can beat up any other raptor that tries to put up a fight. It’s not like natural selection’s on easy mode for a kleptoparasite.
And if we’re talking about moral symbolism, at least kleptoparasites leave their victims alive. I’d rather my countrymen be known as thieves than as murderous cannibals….
Humans have a lot a gall criticizing other animals morals. None of them are trying to destroy the planet we all live on. None of them are perpetrating a mass extinction event.