ANSWER: A million times over, Sun Spots is grateful there are no zombie birds flying around. You do bring up an interesting question, however. Birds are everywhere and often flock in large numbers. Occasionally you hear on the news of an unexplained large flock of birds falling from the sky dead, and probably more often you hear of someone finding a dead bird stuck in the grill of his or her car or whose cat brought one home as a present for its owner. But it does seem to be rare, especially when compared to how many birds there are everywhere, that one happens upon a dead bird in nature.

There are likely several reasons for this. First and foremost, animals have a tendency to seek out shelter and privacy when they are ill or dying. This is instinctive and serves to protect them from predators when they are at their most vulnerable. Since humans are at the top of the food chain, they would definitely look for places that wouldn’t be so obvious to us.

Sun Spots contacted the bird experts at Cornell Lab of Ornithology and they told us that most birds don’t have the luxury of dying of old age or infirmity, but are rather captured by predators and eaten. Larger birds or mammals tend to also eat their prey under cover and until there isn’t much left to see. And of course, nature being nature, life (and death) tend to be cyclical. When an animals dies, other animals and microbes set to work nearly immediately to use its body for fuel for creating new life. As the bird’s flesh decomposes and is eaten, the remaining feathers are so light that they might just blow away with a stiff breeze, leaving little evidence of the critter behind.

DEAR SUN SPOTS:  I remember reading in your column a while back, maybe around a year ago, about a place I think in Lewiston that had a cloth diaper program. They would lend them out to families to use. I would like to contact them and was wondering if that information is still available. Thanks. — No Name, Turner.

ANSWER: The Auburn branch of Rebecca Foundation’s Cloth Diaper Closet helps to match up families in need with supplies of cloth diapers. For more information on their program, visit their Facebook page or call them at 1-855-687-3232, ext. 826. You can also email centralmaine@therebeccafoundation.org, or visit the organization’s website at https://www.clothforall.com/.

There’s also an amazing young woman in Wilton named Gracie Ward. Last year, as part of a school project, Gracie started “Little Tushies Diaper Drive” with a goal of eventually establishing Maine’s only diaper bank. According to the Facebook Page Gracie started to keep people informed of her progress, she is still involved in collecting diapers. Gracie primarily collects and distributes disposable diapers, however.

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