SF0226 The Birds and the Bees

An episode dedicated to the birds and the bees. Actual birds and bees, not what you might have in mind.

It was the tiny differences between finches in the various Galapagos Islands which first triggered Charles Darwin’s concept of evolution. The question that Darwin asked was: what would be the point, if you were an omnipotent creator, of devising a multitude of species with marginal differentiation over a short geographical space? Why not create just the one and have done?

He postulated that it would perhaps take a couple of birds blown off course to arrive at a new island, there to be a different microclimate there, and then, over a vast period of time, they might evolve into a new species. Considering he was unaware of how random mutations within DNA work, this was top sciencing. Mind you, someone else would have come up with the idea sooner or later, as indeed Alfred Wallace on the other side of the world was doing at exactly the same time.

I myself first became interested in birds when visiting my parents-in-law in Kenya. The Great Rift Valley which runs through eastern Africa has created a great profusion of bird species. Indeed, there can be few amongst even the most fervid birders who can distinguish between the multitude of weaver birds that populate that area. But there are many more colourful and remarkable feathered friends. You never forget your first viewing of a kori bustard, foraging on the open plain.

Recently we explored the Northern Territory Top End and I clocked up several new species for my life list. Chief amongst them was the chestnut-quilled rock pigeon and the plumed whistling duck, as well as a few new honeyeaters and the northern version of the kookaburra. Very satisfying. As was the rest of the trip – I can recommend in particular Kakadu National Park and Catherine Gorge.

So then here are some songs about the birds and the bees. Not the birds and the bees that your parents should tell you about when you’re thirteen. Actual birds and bees.

It is not in fact a great time for the birds and the bees. The bees have been under pressure for many years now, avian flu recently arrived on the shores of Australia, and recent bird counts have indicated that we are losing species at a frightening rate.

But, on a lighter note, I have a short anecdote about the time when Jonathan Franzen, the American novelist, arrived for a chat and a Q&A in Melbourne. Poor chap, he was pretty jet lagged having arrived the day before, and not expecting the question I fired at him from the floor: what is your favourite Australian bird?

I almost immediately regretted my question. I could see that he had not been in Australia for many years and could barely remember the name of any Australian bird. He managed to recall, finally, that lyrebirds are a magnificent bird (something I suspect he might have been reminded of via an Attenborough documentary on the plane over). We all, especially me, breathed a big sigh of relief.

So here are some songs about the birds and the bees. I do hope you enjoy them.