In learning character development, we watch others to see how different they react from perhaps what we ourselves may do in any given situation. I’m very into trying to understand these differences right now, and find that natural instinct and learning is tempered by perception to a large measure.
I watched as a young robin hopped around the back lawn, stopped, poked into the earth, and pulled out a worm. Immediately another robin (by his color, another young one, perhaps a brother or sister?) swooped down at the first and tried to take the prize. They fought, flyed, chased for another fifteen minutes.
Both robins likely learned by watching Mom. One learned to do as she did; the other learned to watch and retrieve as she tried to teach them the method and yet feed them. It was surprising to watch, to ponder the way instincts and learning shape lives.
The Lost Children: A Charity Anthology