Sorenson: It's hard not to believe that birds feel some of the same emotions we do

"Anthropomorphic" is the term for assigning human attributes and emotions to animals ? such as when I declared that the brown thrashers were furious when they found a snake coiled in their nest.

But really, didn’t they demonstrate anger, pecking and pounding the snake with well-aimed sharp bills, screaming, aggressively defending their nest, risking their lives? Weren’t they grieving and devastated that their babies were gone?

Scientists say, not really. Animals react with a “fight or flight” response. No emotion. Given an attack, they fight if they can. Given odds too great, they flee. All without fear, courage, bravery, anger, joy, satisfaction, or any other human emotion.

Like thrashers, most birds face daunting odds rearing young. Mortality rates, according to best estimates, range from 50% to 80% or more for the first year, depending on geographic locale, weather conditions, and abundance of predatory animals. So only 20% to 50% survive, at best.

Sometimes the figures are worse. For instance, dickcissels — birds in the cardinal family sporting black bibs, bright yellow breasts, and chestnut wings — nest in grasslands. Locally, that translates into hayfields. If the hay is mowed before the birds fledge, they face 100% mortality — a frequent situation locally. Cheers to the farmers who watch, mowing after the birds fledge.

Sometimes weather strikes the mortal blow. Windstorms blow down nests or break away protective covering. Heavy rains flood out shorebirds, loons, and other ground nesters.

Late freezes decimate insects, which for most species are the only food for nestlings. Purple martin hosts will remember cold spring rains that all but eliminated insect hatches, causing whole colonies of purple martins to perish on their nests.

Predators take thousands of birds, some areas having more predators per acre than others. Most common are snakes and raccoons. Both raid nests of eggs and young. Some birds species are also predators, like blue jays, crows, starlings, and house sparrows, all of which raid nests.

When house sparrows killed a female bluebird on her nest and pecked the life out of the nestlings, I was both sad and really angry. I coudn't help it.

Some nests suffer from cowbird parasitism. Cowbirds don’t build nests of their own; instead, they lay eggs in other birds’ nests. The larger cowbird nestling pushes fellow nestlings from the nest or starves them by competing more successfully for food. It tugs my heartstrings to see a little chipping sparrow standing tip-toe to feed a cowbird youngster.

Cats, the single-most deadly predators of birds, find young birds ready lunch but kill any bird possible. I remember when a cat killed our female house wren, which, with her mate, was feeding two babies. That evening, the male calling his mate nonstop, repeating the effort the next morning. When she didn’t return, the babies died, the male left, and it was heartbreakingly quiet. But while I grew anthropomorphic, grieving the loss, the male did not. He left for better territory.

To protect nesters, keep cats inside. Install predator guards on nest boxes so they don’t become snake or raccoon lunch boxes.

Watch hayfields for ground-nesting songbirds, giving them time to fledge. Take in feed and feeders at night to discourage raccoons.

Because like me, you may still believe birds grieve when they lose their nests, their babies, or their mates.

For more information about birds and bird habitat, see Sharon Sorenson’s books How Birds Behave, Birds in the Yard Month by Month, and Planting Native to Attract Birds to Your Yard. Follow daily bird activity on Facebook at SharonSorensonBirdLady, or email her at [email protected].

This article originally appeared on Evansville Courier & Press: Do birds feel human emotions?