if you walk along the shore of coeur d'alene lake during a hard winter (not uncommon in northern idaho) you will see them ... little skeletons picked absolutely porcelain white except for traces of blood in the cartilage between joints. they are the remains of the common black coots upon which the area bald eagles feed.
even when the lake freezes over hard their will be patches of open water, and the coots "raft up" on these open areas in great numbers. these rafts attract the balds, who swoop low over the gathered birds hoping to frighten an individual coot to attempt to flee their presence overhead. this is not a good strategy for an individual coot, as they are weak fliers, and once separated from the raft relatively easy pickings for the eagles. these are the coots who become the skeletons upon the shore.
by contrast, most of the coots choose to bunch up, and tighten the raft, often several birds "deep." the eagles do not attack the birds that are bunched like this, and, indeed, they avoid getting too close to them. did i happen to mention that coots are not pacifists? well, they are not, within the limits on physical prowess nature has bestowed upon them. but, they do the best with what they have. and, what they have is a certain amount of pluck, which they express by coming off the surface of the lake, and grabbing the eagle by its feathers with their beaks, and by so doing if a sufficient number can reach the predator they drag the eagle to the surface of the water.
and, mob it, and drown it. no doubt that in this process a certain number of coots die in the eagle's talons and beak before it is drowned. but, that is an eagle, one eagle, that will eat no more coots.
similarly, juvenile baboons who are outriders and scouts before a troop on the move have been known to advance upon and attack a leopard, setting upon him at the cost of their lives before the bulk of their fellows arrive to overwhelm the hapless cat. a cat makes short work of a single baboon, but any cat who so indulges himself and doesn't flee or give sufficient ground, soon finds the error of his ways.
i have the sort of mind that thinks of these things, contemplating such incidents as the san benardino shootings. it is asking a lot of a person who is at a gathering to switch gears from a person engaging in fellowship to a raging animal attacking an attacker at the risk of his life. but, is this (which may well result in the risk of his own life) not preferable to resigned slaughter?
and, if the coot and the baboon are capable of such heroism, are not humans? san bernardino. paris. what if the attackers had been mobbed by their intended victims, and overwhelmed by a spirited defense?
john jay @ 12.05.2015
Very nice piece.
The question of who has that kind of courage and why others don't is, of course, at the heart of our troubles.
Posted by: Uncle Kenny | December 05, 2015 at 10:57 AM
Most of the shootings happen in gun free zones.
Not by accident.
Posted by: Paul Albers | December 06, 2015 at 06:25 AM