Welcome to the Midnight Collective Broadsheet 62
Actively supporting NZ’s endangered wetland birds
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| Spot the difference -Scaup centre with ducklings |
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| spot the difference -Scaup centre right |
One
thing we are always on the lookout for is inter-species fraternisation, especially where it involves the rearing of youngsters. It is turning out to be
more common in our wild birds than we might have supposed. We have seen
recently how black and pied shag youngsters will roost together in the same
tree and last year we filmed a remarkable liaison, when a mallard mother with
two chicks took an orphaned scaup
chick (native diving duck) under her care until the youngster fledged.
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| Scaup nips adopted mum |
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| Frances Jill Studd - Watercolour Adult scaup |
We
have also filmed a male white goose taking a mother and 11 ducklings under his
care; and now we have another. It has been a lean year for our waterbirds but a
late brood has emerged down at the Wharemauku (creek). Here a mother is raising
seven ducklings. It is rare to see seven survive this long because there are so
many predators – pukeko, eel, rats, kingfisher (kotare), cats, dogs, stoat,
ferrets, along with children throwing rocks, to name just a few. The odds are
stacked against them, so this male goose which has attached himself to the
family, appears to have played an important part in their survival.
The
mating relationships between these waterbirds vary and are curious. Mallard males
don’t stay with the females and while they don’t seem to attack ducklings, they
show no paternal interest and continue to mount sexual attacks on females who
are harbouring young. (It is galling to witness). Parera males on the other
hand, (our critically endangered native duck), do seem to hang around with their
mates, at least for a time, and this seems also true of some of their
parera-cross peers. This is a controversial finding because most observers
would deny it; but we have the video evidence that confirms it.
The
males appear both pleased to have their mates off her nest, but then startled
by the youngsters that are tagging along and that are her main preoccupation.
Unlike dabchick and putangitangi dad’s they are not natural fathers and spend
their time trying to keep the youngsters in line. It’s the female who wears the
pants however, and if he gets too demonstrative with her ducklings she’ll fly at
him. This goose (possibly a domestic escapee) is doing the same, prodding at the youngsters who dodge around,
appearing quite used to his lumbering pedantry. Any human getting too close however
gets the full goose treatment. He rears up, stiffens, eyeballs, hisses and then,
if you hadn’t backed off by then, he’d fly at you. The ducks appear to have
weighed up his pros and cons and stuck it out with him. It seems to have been a
big plus in their lives, but what is the goose getting out of it?
His
only payoffs seem to be participating in an engaging social life that includes the emotional
fulfilment of being a Dad –though he isn’t one. The scientific community takes a
hardline in eradicating ideas like this because they smell of anthropomorphism.
But Science can appear just as wrongheaded, in assuming the opposite extreme -
that animals function without personal volition. It is certainly wise to
recognise that a goose has a different view and response to the world than we
do, but it still has a view and a response. It has choices. It makes them. We
don’t know the grounds, but denying it entirely has led Science into the
wilderness in trying to formulate
theories on the emotional lives and minds of animals. Here is one example…
In our western culture
which values monogamy, people seem to approve of animals that form long-term
pair bonds. It’s important to remember however, before we jump to biased
conclusions, that these animals are not displaying ‘true love’ but simply
following the dictates of their genes. They are survival machines, and their
mission is to multiply their own genes in the gene pool. If a male felt that she
could raise young without him he’d be off in a flash.
This
commentary comes from an idealistic book introducing young people to the complexity
of animal lives -The Secret Language of
Animals (P 78) by US author, Janine
Benyus. It is very confused thinking – presenting the male as recognising
that he has a responsibility, though this is simply directed by his genes - he is an
automaton –a sex machine. Our goose has given it all the lie. While emphasising how
important the role of a good father is – and not only in our own children’s
lives…
The
rot however has been setting in for some time on this scientific orthodoxy. A
good place to review how it is trying to emerge from it, is a recent article
by Oliver Sacks in the New York Review of Books – The Mental Life of Plants and Worms: Among Others. NYR April 24 2014.
We remain unconvinced.
Our song this week is Hayley Westenra's Whispering Hope for Cathy Stewart, a dear friend who passed away on Valentine’s Day.
Kia kotahi ki te ao
Kia kotahi ki te po
Arohanui
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