Bird Politics

Yesterday when I drove my daughter Anna to her school, we witnessed a massive flock of birds. Thousands of them gliding through the air with no apparent sense of direction, urgency, or planning.

As we (or predominantly Anna, because I was driving) were admiring the formations and the graciousness of their moves, we started wondering out loud.

How do they decide where they go?

Who gets to determine the direction?
Who’s the leader anyway, and why is she the leader?

Anna and I are both no bird experts, so much is probably clear by now, but our unfamiliarity with bird practices created a good conversation.

Sometimes ignorance is bliss.

As we continued to wonder how these birds organized themselves and made the decisions of which we saw the consequences in the air, suddenly the flock broke up into three smaller groups.

“Bird politics”, Anna said.

I glanced at her from my driving seat with question marks in my eyes.

Anna explained that anarchy had emerged inside the flock, and some birds decided to move in different directions.

“They were fed up with their self-proclaimed leader and the apparent lack of direction, so they decided…