Birds Notebook Again

Bird Brain

When I was young and wanted to insult my older sister, I’d call her a "bird brain". I haven’t thought of that in a while. There are things dumber than birds, though.

This afternoon I spotted a Carolina wren hopping and skipping across my back yard. When he came to a halt, some small brown moth flew right into the bird's face, bop, and bounced away. I thought it humorous, but I didn't think about it much. The bird looked quizzical, as if he was wondering why the moth was so stupid. Two or three happy hops later, involving some acts of misdirection, he was right on that moth's ass, picked it up, threw it down, WHAM! to the ground. Then he took it in his beak and tossed his head back and a little sideways—one gulp and the moth had disappeared entirely, wings and all. The wren underwent no change of expression, though my face probably did. That moth wasn't just stupid, he was REALLY DAMN STUPID! Why fumble around and bump into a hungry wren like that?!

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