Having spent the whole day before out in the field, I felt obligated to go to work on Thursday the 24th. Besides which, I had meetings on the 24th where I didn't on the 23rd. But going to work didn't stop me completely from getting out to get some photos.

I decided to head south after work; after all, days were getting long and I'd still have an hour or so of good light to work with. I went down to Burns Road in South Delta. There had been a small flock of Tundra Swans reported from there, and I am still without the Tundra on my life list. Which means, of course, that I didn't find the swans.

About the only thing I did find in the area were a bunch of eagles. This location is near the Vancouver dump, and the eagles like to hang around and prey on whatever the dump attracts. The eagles were an impressive sight, out standing in their field. Here's a pair of younger ones.

I wonder how you read the weight off of the thing.

I drove around a bit, still looking for the Tundras. Eventually I ventured onto the other side of the highway, near the Boundary Bay airport. I just had to pull over and take photos when I saw the following commuter crow. I wonder which bus line he takes to get back to the roost?

Crows really do have daily movement patterns, often coming together at night in a large communal roost and dispersing in the morning. (The Vancouver area has a huge crow roost in Burnaby near Willingdon.) Crows have been known to ride on trucks or trains when they are going in the same general direction. So maybe that crow really is waiting for the bus.

Also near the airport, a little further down 72nd street, I saw some movement in a corn stubble field. Getting closer, I found that it was a herd of grazing American Wigeons.

After spending some time with the wigeons and checking out some nearby hedges, I got back in my car, headed south on 72nd. I didn't get far before I saw some bright colors on the side of the road. The colors were red and rufous, and that meant one thing—junglefowl. (That's the birder's cute name for domestic chickens.)

I find these fowl quite attractive, so I pulled over and got out, camera in hand.

What happened next was perhaps predictable, but I was unprepared for it. One of the group went off by himself. When I saw what he was doing, I started wondering about this guy's behaviour and his motivation for it: Why? Why? Why did this particular fowl do this?

Now, it's not like I'm the first one ever to ask this question. It's been quite well-studied, in fact. I know a lot of the standard traditional answers, like "to get to the other side", and "to see a farmer lay bricks", but the first answer seemed too abstract for such a well-grounded bird, and the second, well, I checked and there weren't any farmers in the vicinity.

As the chicken proceeded across the road in front of me, I was taking photos, but the question of the fowl's motivation still consumed me. Modern scholars have suggested answers other than the traditional ones*, and some of them merited consideration. I rejected "because it needed the exercise," because of the general appearance of fitness of this specimen, "it wanted to catch the bus into town" because that's more of a crow behaviour than a chicken one, and "the Moon became conjunct with the chicken's natal Mars in its fourth house" because I just don't believe in that kinda stuff. I was going through these answers in my mind, checking them off as I rejected each one. I was getting quite perplexed, and really despairing of finding the reason for this guy's actions.

Thankfully, a little more time thinking and photographing cleared things up for me. Not because I thought of the correct answer, but because the chicken himself revealed it to me. When he finally did reach the other side, he quickly looked around, and then gestured back at his two companions, urging them across.

*See the report of the Fourth Chicken Crossing Conference, May 10-12, 2000, held (appropriately enough) in Chicken, Alaska.

So, clearly, he had crossed the road to make sure that the way was safe and clear for the ladies...mystery solved.

Needing the exercise,
Tom