Wednesday 9th January

‘Hey, bird brain.’  Is quite an insult, or usually meant as such.  Birds are known amongst other things for having tiny brains; they are supposed to have evolved from dinosaurs which also had remarkably small brains, or so we are told.  But both dinosaurs and birds have been remarkably successful animals, as are their land-evolved descendents tortoises and crocodiles.  For all our big brains who knows how long we will survive as a species.

But how like us many bird-brains are; their characteristics mimicking ours – small brains or not.  Just watch a woman putting on her make-up and preening and pouting in front of her make-up mirror and it is just like a bird adjusting their feathers in the morning sunlight, even the flicks of the head – until they are quite happy with their appearance.  Or the raptor like instincts of the smart business man, always on the lookout for a weakness he can exploit and vulture-like he descends only on wounded prey and tears them shred by shred.  Or the gannet-like greed of some who simply cannot stop gorging themselves with food.  The swan-like serenity of those who know they are beautiful and admired.  The squawking bragging crows who know it all and never hesitate to tell the whole world.  The stoical penguins resolutely warming their solitary egg in the most awful conditions. Just like some humans.

Birds may have small brains, but they are remarkable animals who even now are adapting to rapidly changing conditions, witness urban sea-gulls who have moved quite happily inland to feed on human trash.  And when one observes the stupidity of big-brained humans to be called bird brain may indeed be a compliment.