No ordinary chicken

I have written about the chickens of Kauai before. I am past that now. Yes, there are chickens everywhere and there is an explanation for why there are so many wild chickens and why they survive. I have even moved past the old question about chickens crossing the road and my wonder at why so many make it. I have moved on.

Let me begin with the claim that I know things about chickens. I took care of chickens when I was a kid and I have visited the chicken barn at the Minnesota State Fair twice. These Kauai chickens are no ordinary chickens. Ordinary chickens are white. I have yet to see a white chicken here. These are fancy looking birds and they come in a great variety of color patterns (except white). Just look at the extra long tail feathers on this fine specimen. What amazes me is that these chickens look so fancy and they live off the land. You see them in parking lots and often in the road ditches. How is it possible they appear so well coiffed given the circumstances under which they exist. Maybe the appearance of the males is selected for in some Darwinian sort of way. Perhaps the hens dig this look.