Starlings appear to love power lines. Perching on them gives migrating flocks a resting place, and they appear to gather there during their migratory journeys. Introduced in the nineteenth century into North America by Eugene Schieffelin, a member of the American Acclimatization Society, the European Starling has proliferated enough to become a widespread species on the continent. Arriving about the time Americans were powering up with electricity, the birds adapted not only to ecological niches but also to the wires strung across the streets of the country. Their adaptation to many features of their new environment is a reason for their success. Some estimate that from the approximate 100 original birds Schieffelin introduced, Starling bird population now exceeds 100 million individuals. Good thing we put up all those wires.
Of course, Starlings can perch on wires because they have feet that can grab. Native to trees, the birds can latch onto branches, and wires are substitute branches. Starlings adapted, saw an unoccupied place, and moved in.
Not so with ducks. Ducks inhabited North America long before people and certainly before electrical wires and the invasive introduction of Starlings. In their long migratory history generations of ducks have seen wires stretch throughout the continent. But they can’t perch on wires. Blame webbed feet and preferred habitat.
Ducks might lack the ability to grasp a wire, but they do very well in their long-standing habitats of land and water, places to which they adapted long ago. Wires and branches are the boundary that ducks cannot cross. And Starlings, for all their abilities to adapt to a new continent and artificial branches, will never become good swimmers. Any limitation humbles us. For ducks and Starlings those limitations come in the form of wires and water.
Within their limitations and like ducks, some people do very well in environments they have long inhabited. Also within their limitations and like Starlings, some people do very well by adapting to new environments.
Are you more like a duck or more like a Starling?
Of course, Starlings can perch on wires because they have feet that can grab. Native to trees, the birds can latch onto branches, and wires are substitute branches. Starlings adapted, saw an unoccupied place, and moved in.
Not so with ducks. Ducks inhabited North America long before people and certainly before electrical wires and the invasive introduction of Starlings. In their long migratory history generations of ducks have seen wires stretch throughout the continent. But they can’t perch on wires. Blame webbed feet and preferred habitat.
Ducks might lack the ability to grasp a wire, but they do very well in their long-standing habitats of land and water, places to which they adapted long ago. Wires and branches are the boundary that ducks cannot cross. And Starlings, for all their abilities to adapt to a new continent and artificial branches, will never become good swimmers. Any limitation humbles us. For ducks and Starlings those limitations come in the form of wires and water.
Within their limitations and like ducks, some people do very well in environments they have long inhabited. Also within their limitations and like Starlings, some people do very well by adapting to new environments.
Are you more like a duck or more like a Starling?
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