It seems wild birds have three ( 3 ) primary endeavors they need to solely concentrate on for every waking hour they live. 

While in their daily pursuits of finding food and water, they must also be on a constant vigil to the attack of predators. This brings up a thought. Does a bird's nervous system not have the human emotion of fear? It seems not, and my guess is they have evolved with the fact, danger is always a possibility at any time, and because of this, evolution has given them the ability to just live with this fact at all times. If this be true, they would have no need for fear, paranoia, worry, panic or the thought they might die, be injured or handicapped; All emotions we as humans unfortunately posses.

Today, had the feeder birds in the yard once again strafed by a local Sharp-shinned hawk. This made me ponder the following:...... It seems wild birds have three ( 3 ) primary endeavors they need to solely concentrate on for every waking hour they live. These are: Procuring food, water and safety from predators. While in their daily pursuits of finding food and water, they must also be on a constant vigil to the attack of predators. This brings up a thought. Does a bird's nervous system not have the human emotion of fear? It seems not, and my guess is they have evolved with the fact, danger is always a possibility at any time, and because of this, evolution has given them the ability to just live with this fact at all times. If this be true, they would have no need for fear, paranoia, worry, panic or the thought they might die, be injured or handicapped; All emotions we as humans unfortunately posses. Anyone want to comment on or ad to this thought? Thank you, Paul Carrier

It seems wild birds have three ( 3 ) primary endeavors they need to 

While in their daily pursuits of finding food and water, they must also 

Hi Paul - I agree with your speculation about the lack of human-style fear in birds. Having done a lot of banding at Hammonasset Beach SP back in the 80s, we were always interested to see the reactions of the banded birds after we were done handling, measuring, and banding them and released them into the wild again. While it is easy to speculate, I would assume that a captured a bird is certain it will be immediately killed and eaten by the predator that caught it. Most humans in that situation would certainly be traumatized. Look at all the problems that have plagued soldiers who are placed in harm's way throughout the course of recorded history. The term "Shell shock" was only coined after we developed a yet more traumatizing way to kill soldiers without warning. When we would release a Northern Harrier from our hawk blind at Hammo, we would show off to visitors by doing an audible countdown - "Okay, now watch the Harrier, he will shake himself while in flight, then resume hunting like nothing ever happened, in about 3.., 2.., 1..., NOW!" It almost never failed. Most raptors would immediately resume their hunting / migration behavior, while some would fly to a nearby perch and mess with the band for a few minutes, then fly off. With smaller birds, it was harder to quantify their behavior, as they would usually disappear into the bushes. Yes, there were occasions when passerines would go into "shock" as we handled them - eyes closed, body going limp, and possibly dying if not treated. The treatment was the time-honored practice of putting the bird into a dark box or container for a while, and usually they made a full recovery. Was this a reaction to true human-style fear, or was it a variation of "playing possum" that would be taken to the extreme? I don't know. Clay Taylor Calallen, TX (Corpus Christi) ctaylor@att.net ----- Original Message ----- From: "Carrier Graphics" <carriergraphics@sbcglobal.net> To: <ctbirds@lists.ctbirding.org> Sent: Thursday, November 20, 2008 11:12 AM Subject: [CT Birds] Birds and fear - > Today, had the feeder birds in the yard once again strafed by a local > Sharp-shinned hawk. > This made me ponder the following:...... > > It seems wild birds have three ( 3 ) primary endeavors they need to > solely concentrate on for every waking hour they live. > These are: Procuring food, water and safety from predators. > > While in their daily pursuits of finding food and water, they must also > be on a constant vigil to the attack of predators. This brings up a > thought. Does a bird's nervous system not have the human emotion of fear? > It seems not, and my guess is they have evolved with the fact, danger is > always a possibility at any time, and because of this, evolution has given > them the ability to just live with this fact at all times. If this be > true, they would have no need for fear, paranoia, worry, panic or the > thought they might die, be injured or handicapped; All emotions we as > humans unfortunately posses. > > Anyone want to comment on or ad to this thought? > > Thank you, > Paul Carrier > _______________________________________________ > This list is provided by the Connecticut Ornithological Association (COA) > for the discussion of birds and birding in Connecticut. > For subscription information visit > http://lists.ctbirding.org/mailman/listinfo/ctbirds_lists.ctbirding.org

 It seems wild birds have three ( 3 ) primary endeavors they need to solely concentrate on for every waking hour they live. 

 While in their daily pursuits of finding food and water, they must also be on a constant vigil to the attack of predators. This brings up a thought. Does a bird's nervous system not have the human emotion of fear? It seems not, and my guess is they have evolved with the fact, danger is always a possibility at any time, and because of this, evolution has given them the ability to just live with this fact at all times. If this be true, they would have no need for fear, paranoia, worry, panic or the thought they might die, be injured or handicapped; All emotions we as humans unfortunately posses.

Hi Paul, We also had a sharp-shinned in our tree,also in Harwinton, for more than a half hour, just hanging out. ~Carol ---- Carrier Graphics <carriergraphics@sbcglobal.net> wrote: > Today, had the feeder birds in the yard once again strafed by a local Sharp-shinned hawk. > This made me ponder the following:...... > > It seems wild birds have three ( 3 ) primary endeavors they need to solely concentrate on for every waking hour they live. > These are: Procuring food, water and safety from predators. > > While in their daily pursuits of finding food and water, they must also be on a constant vigil to the attack of predators. This brings up a thought. Does a bird's nervous system not have the human emotion of fear? It seems not, and my guess is they have evolved with the fact, danger is always a possibility at any time, and because of this, evolution has given them the ability to just live with this fact at all times. If this be true, they would have no need for fear, paranoia, worry, panic or the thought they might die, be injured or handicapped; All emotions we as humans unfortunately posses. > > Anyone want to comment on or ad to this thought? > > Thank you, > Paul Carrier > _______________________________________________ > This list is provided by the Connecticut Ornithological Association (COA) for the discussion of birds and birding in Connecticut. > For subscription information visit http://lists.ctbirding.org/mailman/listinfo/ctbirds_lists.ctbirding.org

It seems wild birds have three ( 3 ) primary endeavors they need to 

While in their daily pursuits of finding food and water, they must also 

Paul, please stop worrying so much. For most of human existence we have had to behave much as the birds that we enjoy watching do now. Will our village be attacked and our women and children be carried off? Will drought drive away the animals we eat and cause our crops to fail? Will some unknown plague sicken or kill us? Will floods or fires wipe us out without warning? Much of the world still operates this way. You and I are fortunate enough that looking for food means finding a supermarket, finding water means turning on the tap, floods or fires will be on the evening news and safety from attack comes from paying our income tax. Our "superior" brains have to invent fears for us. Frightening things like Democrats in the white house or catching the flu from a migrating duck come to mind. Dave H. ----- Original Message ----- From: "Carrier Graphics" <carriergraphics@sbcglobal.net> To: <ctbirds@lists.ctbirding.org> Sent: Thursday, November 20, 2008 11:12 AM Subject: [CT Birds] Birds and fear - > Today, had the feeder birds in the yard once again strafed by a local > Sharp-shinned hawk. > This made me ponder the following:...... > > It seems wild birds have three ( 3 ) primary endeavors they need to > solely concentrate on for every waking hour they live. > These are: Procuring food, water and safety from predators. > > While in their daily pursuits of finding food and water, they must also > be on a constant vigil to the attack of predators. This brings up a > thought. Does a bird's nervous system not have the human emotion of fear? > It seems not, and my guess is they have evolved with the fact, danger is > always a possibility at any time, and because of this, evolution has given > them the ability to just live with this fact at all times. If this be > true, they would have no need for fear, paranoia, worry, panic or the > thought they might die, be injured or handicapped; All emotions we as > humans unfortunately posses. > > Anyone want to comment on or ad to this thought? > > Thank you, > Paul Carrier > _______________________________________________ > This list is provided by the Connecticut Ornithological Association (COA) > for the discussion of birds and birding in Connecticut. > For subscription information visit > http://lists.ctbirding.org/mailman/listinfo/ctbirds_lists.ctbirding.org