It was a muggy 85 degrees here in Minnesota, so last evening I was watering the garden and lawn. I noticed a male robin fly 35 feet away and land close to observe me. This is a repeated pattern that I have witnessed for several years.
Apparently humans sprinkling the grass with a hose forces earthworms to climb to the surface of the soil, and that makes rich food pickings for the robins. My speculation is that the robins have taught themselves to associate humans watering the garden, an opportune time to enjoy rich hunting.
Whether this adaptation is thought out or instinctive is anyone's guess. If it is an instinctive behavior, then nature has endowed robins with some capacity to adjust to changed circumstances.
If this is a learned behavior passed down from generation to generation of robins, or it was or is a learned behavior that each brood of young robins learn, or now has evolved into a new instinct is unknown.
It gives me hope that nature and living creatures will evolve no matter if we are wiped out by superbugs or weapons of mass destruction.
It gives me hope that humans, like the robins, can through learning and by versatile instinct, study the situation that they are in and finds ways to live better and smarter. Individuating would just make the process of evolving simpler, more efficient and more effective. This is the road that God has paved for us to travel along.
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