Jose Miguel Pineda
2010-23440
Bird Watching
On
the 6th of May, we had our first speaker discuss about the different
species of birds that inhabited the campus. I was mildly interested in the
session, only paying attention to names and appearance of the birds he
mentioned. I did learn quite a few things however. Afterwards, our professor
gave us tasks to photograph as many birds we could find around the campus. I
came well prepared on that day. Armed with my camera and sun block, we managed
to get some nice photos of a shrike. The birds we photographed were kind enough
to sit still to be caught. It had a coat of grey on its upper back that turned
to black as it went down. It had a white breast that was bordered with a light
shade of brown as it touched its black feathers. It was roughly bigger than a
maya as it had a bigger beak and longer tail.
Bird
Watching I feel is a worthwhile hobby to pursue. It emphasizes the virtue of
patience and develops a person’s understanding of his environment. Before, I
would hurriedly pass through without giving whatever’s around me a second
glance. I only had my next destination and the need to escape the summer heat
in my mind. I only give notice to the CS building, the jeepney stops and the
passing cars. I saw the metal, felt the concrete and smelled the smoke. What I
regretted was not paying more attention to what I experienced.
The
trees, the grass, the sky; they all seemed so alien now. Before, I would never
notice the beautiful flora that decorated the campus, the humid smell in the
air signaling rain, the different chirps the birds that live near and how the
thin branch felt when it would rub against my bald head.
I
would love for the university to construct an aviary so that people would have
an easier time if they were to take pictures and study the behaviors of the
birds.
Social
Climbers and Food for Thought
It
is already known that monkeys and chimps share some behavioral similarities
with us humans. Examples of this are the way they adapted their diets to
coexist, the way they band together for safety the way they use tools to crack
nuts, the way they had what resembled a class system. These behaviors drew
comparison to the final part of the documentary where we saw how the earliest
of men hunted their prey.
Early
man had no claws to dismember their prey, no fur to protect them from harsh
weather, no heightened senses to feel what’s around them. Instead, they had
their brains. They invented what they lacked and adapted when they needed to.
If you were to view the perspective of the bushman’s prey, you see a creature
standing upright wielding stone claws. With your physical advantage, you can
run faster but the creature persists. He never tires with his portable water
supply. He never loses your trail with his tracking skills honed for
generations. But he runs on two feet, he could never catch you. That’s where
you’re wrong. Running on two feet consumes less energy than it would on four
legs and combined with man’s ability to perspire, he can endure far longer than
the animal. He is relentless and you fall prey to him in the end.
Man
has this ability to shape his environment to suit his needs. He learned to
plant even on the harshest of soil. He learned to domestic animals by breeding
the desired traits they wanted from buffalo and dogs. Man quenches his hunger
for food and drink and yearns for more so he invented religion and arts. As the
abundance of available food grows, so does the population of man. From the
villages we had long ago to the metropolis of the present. Sooner or later the
Earth will be insufficient and man will look for others worlds to shape.
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