Now it's the songbirds

The other day I was flipping through my Facebook account when a story about songbirds appeared in my news feed.

It said any number of species – robins, grackles, wrens, sparrows, blue jays, and cardinals among them – were dying of a mysterious illness. Science, to this point, had no idea why, only speculation.

According to the US Geological Survey (see here), the illness is affecting birds across the mid-Atlantic region.

This was distressing news to  me. I have several bird feeders – one for hummingbirds, another for upside-down-feeding gold finches, and yet another for all those songbirds – and the thought of them going silent was a bit unnerving.

And, yet, as I thought about it, there seemed to be some truth to this latest pandemic. We've had noticeably less activity at the feeders. Kim and I thought perhaps there were some birds of prey nearby, like falcons, hawks or hoot owls.

A few years ago, we saw a cluster of feathers in our backyard and attributed the slaughter to some nearby redtail hawks, who are carnivorous cannibals, I guess.

Right now, though, it's all a mystery. There is some speculation that this year's cicada outbreak might be linked to the bird illness, but that remains to be seen. It's currently unproven theory.

Curiously, people investigating this mystery have suggested that a way to mitigate the spread of the illness is through social distancing. 

No, not us, silly. We've already done that for humans and it works. But what we can do to help the birds is to take down your bird feeders. Remove backyard bird baths. Take away anything where birds congregate in order to give scientists a chance to figure out what's going on.

It may sound a little ridiculous now, but bird-to-human infections are not all that uncommon. Remember the avian flu scare we get every so often? So far, a handful of A(H9N2) cases have already been reported in the Western Pacific Region. We need to keep an eye on this, I think, because if nothing else, the Covid-19 pandemic has shown that we are not much more than human Petri dishes. Keep your hand sanitizer handy. Get your flu shot.

All of this makes me wonder what's going on with the planet. Our bee population pollinators are on the decline, which has serious implications for the food chain. It's food for thought. Does climate change have a hand in this?

Aren't we Biblically challenged to be caring stewards of the planet? (Genesis 1:26-28 – And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.

²⁷ So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.

²⁸ And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth.) 

Is it really up to us?

Save the birds. Save the bees. Save the whales. Save the elephants. And maybe save ourselves.