Not half bad, inselpeter.

Like I've said, you've got too much imagination to be a dry punctilious bird watcher. And of course you are right, from tree tops they can better see available food and Britney Spears as well as hungry hawks and kids with BB guns.

But you didn't address the question at hand. I'll rephrase it...

What is the instigating behavioral mechanism for some blackbirds to sit diligently at the tops of tall trees while all the other blackbirds merrily feed on the bountiful ground below ?

Just who in the hell elected them as leaders?

Or, alternately,

Why are these poor birds being punished while all other birds get to eat?

twenty-nine...thirty...thirty-one...