Then, as she started in on birders’ penchant to anthropomorphize, she glanced out the window and exclaimed “Oh, look. There’s that cute little Verdin grabbing a drink at the hummingbird feeder.” Now it was her turn to get “the look,” and I gave her a good, long one. Attributing human characteristics to the animals and even inanimate objects we love in the natural world should not be a guilty pleasure. We all do it all the time, and it happens because we’re human.
Birds have personalities because we have personhood and we see our traits and imperfections reflected in them. I’ve always assumed scientists are the scoffers in this debate, but ask any birder or any pet owner if the subject of their love has a personality and you’ll get “the look” for sure. Then I saw an image of the celebrity scoter on FaceBook taken by a photographer friend I had just missed seeing at Kiwanis that morning, and a light bulb came on.
E.J. Peiker, an electrical engineer by training, with a career as a chip designer for Intel, is obviously a scientist, but he has one foot in the photography world and he happens to be my camera guru. In addition to his breathtaking landscapes, he’s also a wildlife photographer with a specialty in ducks. Many birders take ducks, as a family, for granted. They are not uncommon and typically they are colorful and accessible. But E.J. got way, way, way into ducks and has published a book, Ducks of North America, The Photographer’s Guide.
I emailed him “Why ducks, E.J.?” Here’s what he told me—“I love the many different species representing every color and they just seem to have much more personality than most birds. I set out to photograph every species on Earth.” E.J.is only a handful shy of that goal, and I think he will achieve it when Covid-19 reaches endemicity. You might want to argue with him about Verdins not being cute, but here’s a scientist using “personality” and “ducks” in the same sentence.
So, then I asked Deva to look at my White-winged Scoter again, carefully, and tell me what she saw—
“Ok, Ok . . . it looks like he’s saying ‘Don’t mess with me, you mother#$XZ&@!’”
“Right, and he’s got color! I love the sharp white on black contrast with the snazzy orange highlight!”
“Yeah, but that’s the first decent White-winged Scoter shot you’ve ever taken. You’re suffering from recency bias. Tell me he’s prettier than a drake Wood Duck or a male Mandarin!”
“Tell me who’d you rather have in a bar brawl, this dude or pretty boy Wood Duck?”
“That’s such a guy thing!”
“Alright then, how about this? The scoter had me when I saw that sexy femme fatale eyeliner.”
“Stop it! Now you’re blurring genders!”
This went on for about ten minutes, but if you still can’t quite buy into anthropomorphism, get over it. Google “Do birds have personality?” and also look for E.J.’s duck book. And please don’t try to tell me the male White-winged Scoter isn’t beautiful and doesn’t possess a killer personality.