Bird Feeder

I learned a couple of interesting things today about birds and bugs. ('Interesting,' being a subjective term, read on at your own discretion)

First, did you know that even seed-loving birds like goldfinches feed their babies bugs? It turns out that when it's really hot and dry, one way birds get enough water is by eating bugs instead of seeds. When the little darlins are young and nest-bound and it hasn't rained much, apparently the parents run by McDragonfly's and pick up some treats, " Look princess, Daddy brought a big juicy bug for you." Eeuuw.

So there's one interesting thing about the bird/bug bond.

Typically, I aim to learn one interesting thing every day and when I hit my target, that's it; a person can only manage so much interest.  So I could have said "NO, I'm at my quota today," but in a boldly expansive move on my part, I said in effect, "I believe I'll have another."

That's how I found out  about the bird/GIGANTIC-bug bond.

It might be that we should be thanking those tiny chirping machines that fly erratically around our garden bird feeders for saving us from having insects the size of Volkswagens lounging around our yards.

According to someone who actually studies this sort of thing, our atmosphere used to be made up of 30% oxygen (it's only 21% now, but everyone knows that, right?). The theory is More Oxygen=More Energy= Bigger Bodies which is how the bugs became gigantic.  Birds, probably without reading all the science, just basically said, "Super-size me!"  Not to take anything away from our avian heroes, but let's face it, that kind of over-indulging was a lot easier back then, before Mayor Bloomberg began imposing fines for gluttony.

Anyway, a jillion years (it's a scientific measurement) later, we have more manageable-sized bugs to contend with, and birds to thank.

And so it went up the food chain, each level consuming the the next lower level, before genetic gigantism ensued resulting, more or less, in a natural balance. Then humans figured out how to circumvent the system by evading Grizzly bears and inventing drive-thrus, thereby making it possible for us to grow to the size of small Cessnas.

Until The Big Gulp got on the last nerve of His Mayorness.

But that, as they say, is "a whole 'nother story." The next time I need to fill my daily allocation of 'Interesting,' maybe I'll check it out.