The Protector

The Protector

i’ve taken to calling a local bird the Protector.  He spends most of his day perched on my railing ready to attack anything.  He is stealthy, fast and an incredible defender; spending long hours standing at attention, listening and watching for incoming predators.  He rarely takes a break to eat or wash because his main concern sits on a rickety nest, and i mean rickety.

The Protector is a Grey Kingbird that is locally indigenous and not threatened.  They have adapted well to life on the island and are one of the more prolific birds here, but the ones around my house have been failing to reproduce for about four years now.  Every late May or early June i have a pair that builds a nest in the West Indian Cedar tree which is also an indigenous tree.

Grey Kingbird Nest

This year they built a nest and laid some eggs in a Cedar tree just out of the wind, unlike years past, where they were completely un-protected.  The nest looked pretty good and i thought maybe this year they would finally succeed but the rains took it out so they built another one.  The nest in the picture is the second one they have built in the same tree this year.  They finished it in no time and are sitting on eggs again. 

The whole nest building process and guarding is tough work.  The Protector’s job is not easy as he is burdened by Pearly Eyed Thrashers that try to dive bomb the nest.   The Thrasher's lie in wait in the Turpentine tree and when they think he is derelict in his duties they do a surveillance tour.  He usually spots them on the incoming flight and dive bombs.  Sometimes the female will come off the nest and the two of them will attack together, bashing and pecking until the Thrasher flies off.  None of the other small birds that visit the tree bother the Protector and he lets them suck the nectar out of the flowers or perch on a branch with nary a look.

The Thrasher is an aggressive, opportunistic bird that is rarely put in its place by other birds, but the Grey Kingbird is a formidable foe and battles relentlessly to protect his family; quite a feat for such a small bird.  The even bigger Red Tailed Hawk never even gets close to the nest because if the Protector sees one flying in he is on its back in no time, pecking and dive bombing, keeping it far away from even seeing what he is protecting. 

Watching this little bird work hard every day to protect his family just warms my heart, but makes it ache too when i think about those in our nation that want to deny that we humans have played a negative role in the state of our environment.

This little bird is representative of all of nature out there trying as hard as it can to keep the cycle of life going, while we cut down his trees, pollute the air, rape the land and force him into narrower and narrower environments to survive.  When are we going to wake up and be real stewards of this earth?

Oh Yeah, the answer to last weeks logic problem is the German.