Sing auspex
Alright, let's diversify. I say let's -- I imagine company. Who is with me here, now? But the diversification. Something at once more mystical and quotidian. Something like this:
Where do birds go to die? That's right, one more time: where do birds go to die? Or perhaps: Where do city birds go to die? (I'm not sure the distinction need be made -- I've lived outside of the city and not seen dead birds in any greater number; but while the number of dead birds remained roughly constant, at close to zero, the amount of space available to them was considerably greater.) At any rate, think about how many birds you see alive every day, and now think about how many you see dead. And of the relatively smaller number of dead birds, how many of them have not been roadkill?
Some birds, if not most, must be dying naturally somewhere. So where? They can't all be dying in their nests. Surely if that were the case I'd have seen at least one non-infant carcass in one nest by this point in my life, which I haven't. I also have neither seen nor heard of concentrations of dead birds in parks or other open spaces. And, of course, they're not just kicking off on streets and sidewalks without that fuel-injected nudge.
Tucked away in corners? Wouldn't someone have smelled that? Leaving the city to spend their last days in comfort? Unlikely. Plus, if both urban and non-urban birds were concentrating outside of the city to shed this mortal coil, then I'd expect to have seen more discarded avian coils than I did during my tenure outside of the metropolis.
Secret bird burial ground? Has anyone run a genetic comparison of bird and elephant dna? Are there any other behavioral similarities? Can birds even dig?
What if it's more sinister? What if they're not even really alive? Or, leaping past the implications of that last question, what if they're not alive as we know it?
This could be big. Surely someone has considered the question.
[I'm going to put some bird names here in the interest of attracting to the site people who might know something on point. Heron, humming bird, eagle, falcon, hawk, sparrow, albatross, owl, blue-throated warbler, nightingale, yellow-bellied pip, quail, robin, oriole, phoenix.]
Where do birds go to die? That's right, one more time: where do birds go to die? Or perhaps: Where do city birds go to die? (I'm not sure the distinction need be made -- I've lived outside of the city and not seen dead birds in any greater number; but while the number of dead birds remained roughly constant, at close to zero, the amount of space available to them was considerably greater.) At any rate, think about how many birds you see alive every day, and now think about how many you see dead. And of the relatively smaller number of dead birds, how many of them have not been roadkill?
Some birds, if not most, must be dying naturally somewhere. So where? They can't all be dying in their nests. Surely if that were the case I'd have seen at least one non-infant carcass in one nest by this point in my life, which I haven't. I also have neither seen nor heard of concentrations of dead birds in parks or other open spaces. And, of course, they're not just kicking off on streets and sidewalks without that fuel-injected nudge.
Tucked away in corners? Wouldn't someone have smelled that? Leaving the city to spend their last days in comfort? Unlikely. Plus, if both urban and non-urban birds were concentrating outside of the city to shed this mortal coil, then I'd expect to have seen more discarded avian coils than I did during my tenure outside of the metropolis.
Secret bird burial ground? Has anyone run a genetic comparison of bird and elephant dna? Are there any other behavioral similarities? Can birds even dig?
What if it's more sinister? What if they're not even really alive? Or, leaping past the implications of that last question, what if they're not alive as we know it?
This could be big. Surely someone has considered the question.
[I'm going to put some bird names here in the interest of attracting to the site people who might know something on point. Heron, humming bird, eagle, falcon, hawk, sparrow, albatross, owl, blue-throated warbler, nightingale, yellow-bellied pip, quail, robin, oriole, phoenix.]
posted by General Bird at 22:53
2 Comments:
What you didn't know is that birds really can't die (unless hit by a car or bus). Thus, observe them well and find out about eternal life...
In Italy birds would fly full force directly into my shut windows and proceed to fall as if they had died on impact... but I never saw any of their fallen bodies. Maybe they all flew off to drink pipa juice for an instant blood transfusion?
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