Birds that lie

I remember once walking as a boy with my father in some fields around our house. I was probably about nine years old. As we made our way, we came across a bird that fluttered and hopped on the ground. Its wing was bent and looked broken, and the bird appeared to be in distress. I ran to catch it, hoping we could bring it to a place of healing. I pursued the bird for maybe 20 meters, trying to get close enough to grab it but always a step behind. Then suddenly and miraculously, the bird recovered and flew off into the sky. I ran back to my father, who had stayed where we were when the bird was first seen. There he showed me the nest and eggs the bird had been protecting and pointed out how the bird’s fake injury had pulled me away from the nest, keeping the eggs safe.

We usually think about our behaviour as either good or bad. In communication, we rate honesty as positive, lying as a moral sin. Our faith affirms this. The Ten Commandments warn against bearing false witness, and in Heidelberg Catechism Q&A 112, we learn that false witness includes “all sorts of lies and deceit.”

The morality of lies

Researchers who study animal behaviour often talk about how animals signal to each other and if the information provided is honest. There are times when animals communicate in a less-than-truthful manner; they lie. One of the best-known examples is the behaviour of that bird I encountered as a boy.

Play-acting being wounded is common among birds that nest on the ground. Researchers have recently confirmed that this behaviour appears to have developed independently in multiple unrelated bird species and is associated with where and when the birds nest. The further a bird species lives from the equator, the more common faking a broken wing is. There are a couple reasons for this: the further from the equator, the longer a bird’s summer days, giving more daylight during which a predator can see its nest; likewise, the bird’s breeding season is shorter, giving it less chance of laying a second clutch and making each egg more precious. Shorebirds that nest in areas with little cover are also likely to have developed this behaviour. While you might say the birds are deceiving the predator, it is for a good reason: to protect their young. We can justifiably call their behaviour a good lie.

Many in my generation had parents who lived through the occupation of Holland in World War II. We would ask about lying to the Nazis and hiding Jewish neighbours. The simple black-and-white of truth-telling had to be buffered. The more important commandment to love your neighbour required our parents to lie to the soldiers at the door. They had to tell good lies.

What this history and the birds taught me, I realize now, is that ethics and rules are not always straightforward. While it remains true that, in most cases, honesty is the best policy, in life there are a lot of greys that we need to consider prayerfully. Jesus talks about this in the Gospels when discussing Sabbath observance. In all we do, we must seek the Spirit’s guidance in order to follow our rules wisely.