Lets start with an evolutionarily postulate quoted from Wikipedia.org. “Natural selection is a process that causes heritable traits that are helpful for survival and reproduction to become more common and harmful traits to become rarer.” And a definition of ethics which according to Answers.com from the Philosophy Dictionary by Oxford Press is “The study of the concepts involved in practical reasoning: good, right, duty, obligation, virtue, freedom, rationality, choice….” So what does evolution and ethics have to do with our garden? Well, let me tell you.
With that in mind let me tell you about our little conundrum. As you already know we have a humming bird nesting in the NWAF compound. She must have been building her nest long before we arrived in May because shortly there after I noticed her nest and then a few days later a little hummingbird sitting in the nest. Sense that time we have witnessed the laying of two tiny hummingbird eggs, their subsequent hatching into tiny hummingbird chicks, and the constant back and forth feeding frenzy from the crack of dawn till the sun and cloud hallows set on nearby jungle mountains.
I am going to go out on a limb and say our hummingbird (Kate, please don’t make me sleep on the couch) is not the brightest bird in town. She built her nest in the middle of a heavily trafficked archeology compound in a tree that can barely hold its own weight and is poorly protected from the rain. So a few weeks after we first noticed the nest San Cristobal was struck by a large storm. It rained all day long every day for about a week and by the time the rains subsided the poor nest looked as though it was going to melt right off the tree. Fortunately for this small bird the next month was dry and she had time to patch up her nest, dry out, and lay her eggs.
About two weeks ago the little eggs hatched into two strange looking mohawked hummingbird babies. And as is expected about two days later the heavens opened and San Cristobal received another torrential pounding. About two days into the heavy rains the nest, now holding two newborn babies, was soaked through and slipping off the tree. Being the good people we are Kate and I lashed an umbrella to a tall poll and put it over the nest. While our little hummingbird seemed very disturbed by the new black shape looming over head, her nest was no longer getting wet and I would like to think she is grateful. We left the umbrella up just in case another big storm comes through, just until the kiddies are big enough to fly on their own and make the migration to where ever they need to go. The hummingbird habitat has been in place for about a week now and she doesn’t seem bothered by it at all. She is so busy feeding her little chicks that she has little time to notice anything. On a side note those chicks are getting so fat they fill the entire nest with their wrinkly little bodies.
I feel good about building the little hummingbird shelter and in the process am sure Kate and I have saved the lives of the two chicks. But did we do the right thing? If our little hummingbird had chosen a better suited position her little nest would be protected from the rain and if her nest wasn’t so low to the ground she would run the risk of interference from careless humans or hungry cats. Lucky for her she chose a scientific compound where people appreciate her enough not to interfere…at least until Kate and I came along. By setting up the umbrella we have given her offspring an unfair advantage. Do we want a dumb bird to pass on her low intelligence to the next generation of hummingbirds? Have we done more harm than good? What would have been the right thing to do?
I actually believe we did the right thing. But in most cases I would say it is important to leave nature be and let evolution weed out what needs weeding. Yet on the other hand humans do such a good job destroying environments and interfering with animal habitats that I fail to see why it isn’t okay to help animals. The best possible solution would be one that allowed animals to live in their natural habitats unmolested by evil does or those trying to do well. And to do this we all need to be a little more conscious of the world around us and how our actions are affecting all other living things. Do it for the birds.
Here’s a pretty funny break-down of the poor Miss Teen’s blunder.
