Heroes Not Zombies

Here’s Little Owl sitting on the chimney stack of my house. You know, I used to think owls were nocturnal but Little Owl seems to be out and about during the day as well. He’s looking right at me as I take his photo.

I remember reading somewhere that creatures with two eyes facing forward are predators, whilst those with eyes on the sides of their head are vegetarian. Is that true?

Like us, birds pay two different kinds of attention at the same time. One half of their brain allows them to have broad awareness of their whole surroundings, whilst the other gives them focused attention so they can spot prey, or seeds, or whatever food they seek. This combination of broad and focused attention is something we tend to take for granted but it has a huge evolutionary advantage.

Perhaps related to that birds, especially predators, are able to take the view from above, and to zoom in on specifics, as it suits them. Classical philosophers long ago pointed out the benefits of taking « the view from on high » as well as the ability to focus and concentrate. I remind myself of that frequently as I look at both details and contexts…..it’s what I had to do in order to diagnose diseases, and understand the uniqueness of every single patient.

There is, of course, a huge variety of behaviours between different types of birds, but I do think they inspire us to think about that constant paradox of the need to be separate and the need to belong. Individual birds, like this Little Owl, are usually seen alone, whilst others, like starlings, usually turn up in huge flocks. The robin, the redstart and the hoopoe usually appear in the garden alone, or with either a single partner, or a youngster. But the goldfinches, swallows, sparrows and starlings are rarely seen without a whole bunch of family and/or friends around the them! That always inspires me to reflect on those two human needs which we all share – the need to be an individual and the need to be embedded in complex networks of relationships with others…….of how we develop an identity from our individuality AND from the groups of which are a part.

Hey, isn’t it amazing the places the mind goes to when looking at a single owl?