Natural Selection
- Trees are utilitarian
A vision of natural selection I have observed in nature was a cardinal bird flying to her nest in my yard. Every morning the same cardinal would knock on my window while I was getting ready for school as a child. She would always signal that she was there, which felt exquisite. She came with her pretty bright, vibrant red and black coloring and red mohawk looking feathered head that was unique to me. Unlike all the other birds which blended in the colorful scenery. This bird basically came with my property and belonged, since cardinals became the school's mascot.
Cardinals’ natural habitats are usually by a mass of evergreens. This made sense because I had low cut shrubs, flowers, purple mimosa and dogwood trees in the front yard and open forestry in the back. Cardinals nest in many twiggy or branchy trees such as dogwood trees to protect themselves from predators. Their nesting period is about a week or two and they journey in pairs before mating. Cardinals sing on high curvy branches of shrubs while grooming or resting. This explains why the same cardinal was by my window every day, it was a natural trait to sing in shrubs. Cardinals also ate seeds and fruit, so my dogwood trees were perfect for feeding as well as providing plenty of insects.
Normally, cardinals' adaptation would be considered directional selection, but in this rare case I believe it to be a bit of both directional and stabilizing. The reason for that is because this same bird kept coming back longer than its nesting period and I considered my home the cardinal's home. It was the perfect location for birds in general, with many trees and bushes accessible for natural habitation. Cardinals were able to eat, sing, and breed within such spacious landscaping.
Work Cited:
"Northern Cardinal." CornellLab All About Birds. Cornell University. 2026.
Sources & Notes
No AI was used to write this piece.