This was first published October 4, 2021. It’s still the case.
In regard to the wildness of birds towards man, there is no other way of accounting for it… many individuals… have been pursued and injured by man, but yet have not learned a salutary dread of him. Charles Darwin, On the Origin of Species
Darwin's Finches All right, fine, the first few birds Could not have seen this coming. They saw only dark shapes—large, lumbering, branch-winged birds Tipped with tufts of down. Of course the little birds were curious. Of course they believed the branch-wings Were benevolent. And you’re right: Once those first birds had been grabbed, Necks twisted, No, they couldn’t have gone back To warn the others. But the finches just kept coming, Bird by trusting bird, And the men kept killing them, And the flock kept thinning. You might think at some point One bird might say to another, You know, there’s something strange About that beach— The birds who go there Never come back And maybe One bird did say this, And maybe The warned bird went anyway. I guess I understand. * Image by Flickr user Brian Gratwicke under Creative Commons license