The Lonely Guinea

A few years ago, a family that no longer lives in our subdivision purchased a dozen Guineas which they released to roam their six acres or so property, but as Guineas will do when not penned up, they roamed the entire neighborhood from one end of our road to the other in search of food. Other than the noise they made, I really didn't mind them being around, particularly in the summer because they eat lots of insects, particularly grasshoppers, and have a reputation for killing snakes. Of course, they had their own predators including the neighborhood cat population. I can still remember that first year looking out a bedroom window one afternoon and seeing the Guineas all bunched up in a circle like a group of settlers in a wagon train surrounded by Indians which in this case consisted of five or six cats that had them surrounded. Of course, the cats, which themselves run pretty wild around here, scattered when I walked outside, and thus, there were no casualties.

However, over the next several months, their numbers did began to decline. I suspect the cats and/or other predators probably were more successful in other times and places than they had been that day in my yard. Ultimately, I assume through the process of survival of the fittest, or law of the jungle, there were six Guineas left of the orginal dozen, and for a couple of years or so, those six continued to roam the neighborhood without any further decline. They particularly liked to hang out in my backyard during the Winter months because I put out bird food for the songbirds and there was always feed on the ground below the five or six hanging feeders I had out. Over the past year and a half, however, one by one, they have disappeared, and for the past four months or so, only one Guinea remains.


She has taken to spending most of her time around our house probably due to the mixed seeds I continue to put out for the songbirds. Over the past few weeks, Becky has begun to feel sorry for her thinking she has to be lonely, so Sunday afternoon, against my better judgement, we loaded up in the pickup and drove up to Bowie to the Second Monday Trades Day so Becky could buy some Guineas to provide the lonely bird some company.


Fortunately or not, depending on ones perspective, by the time we arrived, the people who were pedaling them were sold out, and we came home empty handed and thus, our Guinea is still a lonely bird.