Things and times have changed for everyone, even the birds, I was telling My Friend P as I watched a flock of 'golins' (you know those white birds that used to hang around cows) in action the other day.

I say used to hang around cows because nowadays you will note that these birds hang out around tractors cutting grass or beside men with weed whackers cutting grass; you rarely see them around cows.

But then again you rarely see cows hanging about in pastures as you used to back in the day. I date myself.

Anyway, as Special F and I looked at the birds hanging out beside the weed-whacker man last weekend, I was puzzled about what they were up to. Well, you know that Special F knows all things. So he pointed out that it was all about food. So, these birds hang around someone cutting grass because when the grass is cut the ticks and other creatures that these birds eat are disturbed from their homes and make for easy pickings for a flock of hungry golins.

Real reason

Well that sounds like a reasonable explanation except Special F came through with another important twist that might be the real reason why food from cut grass has grown in popularity over food from the body of the cow for our feathered friends.

Generally, when birds hung around the cows to get their meals they would perch on the animal's back and pick ticks from their butt and other body parts. Sometimes they even picked stuff from cow dung that was in the pasture. Now think about it. That is just not cool for the birds. The cows, on the other hand, were quite appreciative of the cleaning of their coats and if you think about it, they seemed to quite calmly entertain their feeding guests.

Picking meals

Special F surmises that at some bird university somewhere, there are detailed studies on food technology and nutrition for the 21st- century bird. Bird-food etiquette made it quite clear that picking meals from a cow's behind is unbecoming for the modern bird to be caught doing!

Hence, it was mandated that more respectable modes of feeding be researched and circulated to the modern bird population. Flocks of researching birds went out over the past 10 years and documented more efficient and appropriate modes of feeding. The activities of man were assessed as new and improved methods of feeding.

The cows are the ones suffering as we understand they now have to be negotiating special feeding payments with the birds to get rid of ticks and fleas from their coats because dapper birds wont be caught dead on their backs. Of course, this might mean that there are new job opportunities for other animals that previously were harassed and attacked by cows - creatures like snakes and snails might find that they have an emerging market on their hands.

Things and times have certainly changed. More power to the birds! Hmm! I wonder if they are healthier for it.

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I say used to hang around cows because

nowadays you will note that these birds hang out around tractors cutting grass or beside men with weed whackers cutting grass - you rarely see them around cows.