Just for a wee change, this post isn't about a protest or an occupation, its about waxwings. This winter saw a huge influx of waxwings into Scotland and the rest of the UK, with regular sightings of flocks well in excess of 500 individuals. This was due to the particularly harsh winter conditions in Scandinavia, Northern Europe and Russia, leading to a shortage of the berries which form the bulk of the waxwings diet and thus causing the birds to migrate across the North Sea in far higher numbers than usual.
Waxwings are incredible birds. They have some of the most striking plumage of any bird regularly seen in the UK and its absolutely amazing to witness a flock of them descend and strip a berry tree of it's fruit. They are intensely social birds and are known for sharing food as a way of strengthening social bonds as well as during courtship rituals, behaviour which can be seen here and in the video below:
Groups of waxwings have also been known to line up along a twig or branch and pass berries along the line from beak to beak ensuring that every bird gets fed, which to me is one of the most beautiful examples of sociability and cooperation in the animal world. In fact I can't think about it without a smile coming to my face.
I'm never a fan of simplistic and reductive comparisons between human society and animal behaviour, and I'm not holding waxwings up as some kind of glorious example of avian communism. Having said that though, the next time that somebody tells me that selfishness and competition are natural, or mutters something about 'survival of the fittest', I'm going to tell them how waxwings get berries from the end of a branch.
p.s. For more on sociability and cooperation amongst animals check out what my good friend the Socialist Cephalopod has to say about ants
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