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10 Reasons Why Birds Win the Species Competition With Humans

October 11, 2025 by Kai Pflug No Comments

Sometimes birding feels less like an escape — not from the birds, obviously, but from the species that invented noise pollution, online comments, and motivational hashtags. An evolutionary wrong turn? I think so. Here are ten reminders of why birds are better than humans.

They Don’t Need Motivation Quotes.
They wake up, sing, and get things done — no “Live, Laugh, Love” required.

They Share Without Oversharing.
A bird might warn its flock about a hawk, but it doesn’t post twelve updates about its lunch.

They Don’t Pretend to Be Smarter Than They Are.
Even the cleverest crow isn’t trying to launch a cryptocurrency exchange.

They Have Style Without Trying.
Even the drabbest sparrow looks coordinated. Humans invented Crocs.

They Don’t Need Wi-Fi.
They navigate continents using magnetic fields, stars, and memory. We lose signal in parking garages.

They Don’t Need Belief Systems to Behave Decently.
No commandments, no holy books — and yet not a single crusade or massacre.

They Don’t Claim to Love Nature While Destroying It.
Birds don’t attend “eco-retreats” reachable only by long-haul flights.

They Don’t Need Hope to Keep Going.
Humans write motivational books about resilience; birds endure the storm and move on.

They Don’t Invent Artificial Intelligence.
They already have the natural kind.

They Don’t Call Themselves Exceptional.
They just are — without the press releases, TED talks, or delusions of grandeur.

I, for one, root for them, not my team.

Photo: Pied Currawong, Brisbane area, Australia, December 2016

Written by Kai Pflug
Kai has lived in Shanghai for more than 21 years. He only started birding after moving to China, so he is far more familiar with Chinese birds than the ones back in his native Germany. As a birder, he considers himself strictly average and tries to make up for it with photography, which he shares on a separate website. Alas, most of the photos are pretty average as well.He hopes that few clients of his consulting firm—focused on China’s chemical industry—ever find this blog, as it might raise questions about his professional priorities. Much of his time is spent either editing posts for 10,000 Birds or cleaning the litter boxes of his numerous indoor cats. He occasionally considers writing a piece comparing the two activities.