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Re: CARDINAL CATCHES HUMMER





Brad Carlson wrote:

> Ok this was one of the most bizarre events I have witnessed in my birding
> days.  Yesterday, while watching the regular birds in my back yard, I saw a
> Ruby-throated Hummingbird catching small insects around the trees in the
> garden.  Foraging on the ground close by were some other birds such as Brown
> Thrashers, a Mockingbird and a male Northern Cardinal, etc.
>
> No sooner had the RTH dropped down about 2-3 feet off the ground to feed,
> when the Cardinal sprang from the ground and attacked it.  The Cardinal hit
> the RTH and knocked it to the ground, and immediately landed on top of it.
> The Cardinal picked the RTH up in its beak (the RTH was still alive and
> flapping its wings rapidly).  Then the Cardinal flew out of the yard
> carrying the RTH!
>
> I could not believe it!  I have seen the Cardinals catch small butterflys,
> moths, etc., but never a RTH!
>
> -Brad Carlson
> Winterville, NC
> BradCarlson1@hotmail.com

Given that it is diverse and unexpected developments (behaviors, structures,
functions, etc.) that are the basis of evolution, is it possible that at the
beginning of a speciation event, we see exactly such a thing as this?  Is it not
possible that the cardinal population (or at least this one and perhaps its
relatives) that develops and maintains this kind of behavior may be onto an
adapptive behavior that will enhance their survival potential?  Perhaps this
event is reflective of earlier evolutionary events, rare, strange, and out of
character when they start, that led to the existence of Aves in the first place?

Seems to me that the predatory actions of this cardinal should be applauded and
seen as a potential evolutionary direction for some groups of birds, snakes,
whatever.  I have often wondered if we could do an experiment where we place
squirrels and rabbits on an hospitable island, safe from any xenobiotics and
extraneous gene flow, and wait for a couple of hundred thousand years and then
come back.  We'd find several species (whatever that is) of squirrel and rabbit
descendants that had taken up carnivory and radiated.  I betcha.

Jim Sutton