Scared now

[altariel]

So in our back garden we have this amazing cherry tree (now much bigger than shown), and over the past couple of weeks it has been cooking up the most amazing crop (it's been hot then wet then hot again). Over the past week, the local blackbirds and starlings and assorted others have been feasting. Today I looked out and thought, "Right, time for my share," and out I went with a chair and this fine and sturdy piece of Lock'n'Lock.

The birds fled. I went round the tree for a while, picking and nomming, and I may have been humming 'Cherry Ripe'. And then I heard, up above me, high at the top of the tree, a murmuration of starlings. It became a clutter, then a gathering, then a concentration and then a fucking scary load of starlings, all yelling down the road and out far into the fens that SOME BITCH WAS NICKING ALL THE CHERRIES. All of sudden I was starring in a Hitchcock movie.

Well, the other week I faced off a huge green-eyed and hissing black cat - nay, panther - that is trying to claim our garden as its territory and has been worrying the polyamorous blackbirds in the hedge, so I thought, "Starlings, no sweat," and picked on fearlessly. It was touch and go for a bit as they rocked the tree around and screamed obscenities at me and then, WHOOSH - they all flew off. In a cloud.

Now, pie.

Comments

[temeres.livejournal.com]

Right, so stripped of all the biophobic hyperbole, what happened was roughly this. A few families of local Sturnus vulgaris, who have by now had their first brood of the summer fledged and out of the nest, have been taking advantage of your cherry crop. You go out there while they're feeding, they get nervous and fly away, because as with all prey species it pays to play safe, but then go back becuase you appear to be human and are therefore probably harmless so long as you don't get too close, but no, you are after the same thing they are, and being wimpy little Starlings all they can do is hiss and whistle in indignation before flying off.

Shame on you for taking food out of innocent young mouths. 'Course, 90% of the young 'uns will be dead by Christmas regardless, but ... shame on you ... Well, shame-ish. We are talking cherries, after all...

[altariel.livejournal.com]

My god, though, you should taste the pie.

[altariel.livejournal.com]

Oh yes, I meant to ask: would you be willing to assemble me a reading list of the top five books I should have read about evolution?

[temeres.livejournal.com]

Assemble a reading list when I've only read a scattering myself? The obvious big name to top the list is Richard Dawkins, and I would say that of those of his books I've read, The Blind Watchmaker is probably the best general overview of evolution, not just by him but by anyone.

The Selfish Gene looks at particular implications of evolutionary theory on things like intersexual and intergenerational relationships, amongst other things. It's Dawkins' first book and not as elegantly written as his later ones. Good luck with the chapter on eusocial insects!

The Ancestor's Tale is a smorgasbord of evolutionary hors d'oeuvres, which is probably not a bad way to treat the topic. After all, the basic theory is dead simple. After that, it's a mass of case studies. Lots of 'em.

The Extended Phenotype is Dawkins' own reckoning his best and most original book, but written primarily for other zoologists. He might suddenly start talking about Muellerian mimicry in zygaenids, for example, with no explanation for the uninformed. Chapter 2 does, however, contain the most determined rant against genetic determinism I've ever encountered.

Of other writers, the other big heavyweight is Stephen Jay Gould, of whom I've read little. A num,ber of his books are compendiums of essays, most of them about evolution to some degree or other and generally as entertaining as they are informed (I'm currently about halfway through Bully For Brontosaurus).

For evolutionary psychology, which you probably regard as the second most evil thing on Earth (possibly third if you hate Jeremy Clarkson as much as I do), I would recommend The Blank Slate by Steven Pinker. There are a number of popular books on the topic by Matt ex-chairman-of-Northern-Rock Ridley, such as The Red Queen, The Origins of Virtue, Nature Via Nurture, but he's not a scientist himself and something of a gravy train rider. For an evolutionary slant on human history, Guns, Germs and Steel by Jared Diamond.

There are loads of other books by various people, and obviously if you've got access to a university library you could find more than I'll ever have heard of, let alone find time to read.

Oh, and there's also this guy called Dawrin ... Drawin ... Dirwan ... something like that...