Ciao!

Stupid boobies

Cat came over last night and we watched a bit of TV. The National Geographic Channel had a program on birds of the Galapagos Islands. That's where Darwin found all those highly evolved birds, the springboard for his theory of evolution.

Let's just say that some of those birds aren't so "highly" evolved. The masked booby is a pretty stupid bird. We watched, dumbfounded, as a series of boobies laid their eggs in the wrong spot and just abandoned them. Apparently, if the egg isn't laid right in the middle of the nest, the boobies can't recognize them. One booby made the mistake of incubating a small pebble instead. Meanwhile, tiny finches swarmed around breaking the unrecognized eggs and eating them.

The finches pose other problems for the boobies. There's little water on the Galapagos, so some finches have evolved to drink blood. Yes, blood. They attack the boobies (who are substantially larger) and pluck feathers to cause bleeding. Then they stick their beaks in and drink booby blood. What's the booby trick to escape these deadly little finches? Fly in a circle, land back where you started, where all the little finches are waiting.

My question is this: When the tiny finch in your greatest nemesis, why the hell haven't you gone extinct?

Dan and I are going to see Gods and Generals tonight. I've been waiting for this movie since I first heard it was being produced. Gettysburg blew my mind in 1993.

Posted by Miguel at 04:48 PM

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