BIODIVERSITY underpins our lives, but it is rapidly being eroded. Birds which are part of biodiversity help us understand the natural world.
Over the millennia, and across all cultures, birds have given human beings inspiration, imagery and companionship. Nowadays, bird watching is a major economic force in many places. Birds are an important source of food for many communities, and the ecological services that birds provide to us are crucial and irreplaceable.
Birds embody key values in human cultures, ancient and modern
Some of our most enduring cultural symbols are birds, they reflect many qualities that human beings admire in them.
Cranes, parrots, kingfishers, doves, sparrows, and others have played a role in shaping the ideas and values of human societies. Birds of prey have been particularly revered, for their speed, agility and hierarchical dominance.
Ancient gods such as 'Horus' the Egyptian god of creation were often manifested as birds of prey, while Eagles continue to be national symbols of strength and power to the present day for some countries like Zambia.
Beautiful birds too, such as the Resplendent Quetzal in Central America, have commanded awe and respect, and feathers have provided their wearers with status and splendour down the ages.
Today, birds are repeatedly used as logos (Jesus Christ as divine wisdom), mascots (symbol of good luck) and images that express vital qualities with which we wish to associate ourselves.
Birds put life into the arts
Given their activities, diurnal habits, colours and songs, it is hardly surprising that birds feature so strongly in the world's painting, poetry and music industries. Italian painters of the Renaissance used the Goldfinch as a religious symbol.
Birds have played a range of roles, symbolising amongst other things the lost innocence of Eden and the great passions that nature locks inside us all. Poets have treated birds in similar fashion, from the earliest surviving manuscripts in Chinese, Persian and Latin down to the present life activities.
