I noticed some birds on the lawn to work a few days ago. The grass had just been mowed, and they were walking around, searching for bugs, worms or other forms of juicy food.
When I saw that, the thought struck me: They are hunters/gatherers.
The first step in society development was groups of people hunting together. The men might have gone out to hunt food, the women might have gathered berries, roots, herbs and other edible items. The ability of a certain location to sustain a given population was severely limited by the amount of food available. This was the situation for “barbaric tribes” in northern Europe during the classical period; and nomadic peoples still exhibit this behavior today – keeping a livestock, moving from place to place.
The next step in the evolution of civilizations was farming: no longer relying on hunting and gathering, people had learned to cultivate the land to produce crops. The entire Roman Empire was founded on farming; especially North Africa being the breadbasket of entire Rome and being the motor of the entire Roman economy.
The cultivation of land also meant that the sustainable population increased dramatically, because they were no longer limited to what nature had to offer, but had learned to sustain themselves through artificial means.
Of course, from there we have ongoing levels of sophistication: improved farming techniques (e.g. using oxen for plowing – which transformed the whole medieval agrarian society) and onwards through the enlightenment to industrialization and the present information age society in which we live today; a world capable of sustaining billions.
Birds have obviously not gotten that far yet. They are still in the hunting/gathering stage – one might even say they haven’t even gotten to hunting yet – and this is why they are so obviously limited in their population. As natural resources (insects, seeds etc) decrease, so does the bird population.
If only they were to discover farming! Sowing crops, harvesting, using granaries to store food, would multiply the sustainable bird population by several times, and result in a significant development of the avian civilization. (Using oxen for plowing might prove a difficulty though.)
It’s a pity, though, that they have such small brains. I think it would be very difficult to teach them the long-term benefits of agriculture.
Oh, and wings might be a problem… no opposing thumb.
Actually, I’ve done quite a bit of gardening & I assure you, birds both sow & reap. :)
When they eat food in the garden,(or other a sundry place) that contains certain seeds; they process that food rather quickly. If the processed seeds land in fertile soil…viola!:D New plants grow…& then those dear little birds return & reap their harvest. However, you are totally correct about the use of oxen & thumbs & so on. ;)