Mutual Aid · Chapter
Nesting Associations explained
This chapter explores the phenomenon of nesting associations among birds, drawing on Audubon's journals and other naturalists' observations to illustrate how various species form dense, cooperative breeding colonies.
What happens
This chapter explores the phenomenon of nesting associations among birds, drawing on Audubon's journals and other naturalists' observations to illustrate how various species form dense, cooperative breeding colonies. The text describes the immense congregations of gannets, gulls, auks, and other seabirds on islands and coastal rocks, highlighting both the sociability and the competitive dynamics within these communities.
Themes in this chapter
Sociability in Nature
The chapter provides vivid examples of birds nesting in dense, cooperative colonies, demonstrating sociability as a natural phenomenon.
Mutual Aid as a Factor of Evolution
The nesting associations, though not explicitly framed as mutual aid, illustrate how collective breeding can be a factor in survival and reproduction.
Characters to notice
- John James Audubon
Audubon's journals provide detailed descriptions of nesting associations of aquatic birds, including gannets, gulls, and guillemots on the Magdalene Islands and the Gulf of St. Lawrence.
- Charles Dixon
Dixon's work 'Among the Birds in Northern Shires' is cited for its lively description of the Farne Islands breeding grounds, where thousands of gulls, terns, eider-ducks, and other birds gather annually.
- Charles John Cornish
Mentioned in a footnote as a source for observations on nesting associations, though not directly quoted in the excerpt.
Key passages
“At eleven I could distinguish its top plainly from the deck, and thought it covered with snow to the depth of several feet; this appearance existed on every portion of the flat, projecting shelves.”
From the ship, Audubon initially mistook the dense mass of gannets on the rock for a deep layer of snow.
Illustrates the sheer density of birds in nesting colonies.
“the air above, for a hundred yards and for some distance round the rock, 'was filled with gannets on the wing, as if a heavy fall of snow was directly above us.'”
The sky around the rock was so thick with flying gannets that it resembled a snowstorm.
Emphasizes the vast number of birds in the colony.
“On approaching some of the islands the first impression is that this gull (the lesser black-backed gull) monopolizes the whole of the ground, as it occurs in such vast abundance.”
Upon nearing the Farne Islands, the overwhelming presence of lesser black-backed gulls makes it seem as if they occupy every available space.
Highlights the dominance of a single species in the nesting association.