Nature shouldn't be feared
What do a Cooper’s Hawk, Red-bellied Woodpecker, and White-tailed Deer all have in common?
Talk to enough people about birds, and one comes to some conclusions about the views of non-birders, the Muggles among us who go about their days without an eye toward avifauna.
One is that people sometimes irrationally fear nature. Sure, folks get freaked out by snakes, spiders, and the like, but is there really anything to worry about? Some people have just seen Hitchcock’s “The Birds” too many times.
This came to mind when I saw a social media post in a neighborhood group recently. It featured a beautiful Cooper’s Hawk, but I recall laughing out loud at the caption:
Cooper’s Hawks have made quite a comeback in recent decades, becoming locally common denizens of neighborhoods. They’re finding the prey they need in the form of the same birds that visit our feeders. It’s a thrill to see one, especially up close. We have had one or two Coops around the last two winters. They swoop down the street at a high speed as if to show that they are the apex predator on the block.
It hadn’t occurred to me that someone would see them as harmful, especially to pets, though. They’re fierce, yes, but they are also majestic. The fact is, hawks aren’t interested in any of your pets, at least not dogs or cats. Nor could a Cooper’s be strong enough to carry one off.
The concerned Facebook poster has this sort of “what’s in it for me” mindset when encountering nature or something unfamiliar. It’s the idea that nature is something that needs to be feared and controlled rather than appreciated.
A few days after the above post, another one had me thinking the same thing. There was a male White-tailed Deer, full antlers and all, photographed in a somewhat urban area nearby. “Be careful” said a commenter. Again, I LOL’d.
I imagine a deer could charge you like an angry bison at Yellowstone National Park, but as far as I know they don’t pose a threat. The ones in the forest preserve prefer to turn around and walk away when a human is near. Or just stand there and go on grazing.
The coda to this story arrived as I exited my vehicle one evening last week. I was standing under a big maple, looking at the treetops for a bird, when a neighbor walked by.
“What’s up there?” she asked.
“A Red-bellied Woodpecker,” I replied.
“Well, they can be a problem,” she said as she walked off.
Hawks and harmony
Turning to a slightly different angle, I was struck by a piece
wrote for last week. One of the recurring themes in TWiB has been allowing space for nature to take hold, rather than constantly attempting to keep it away. You can allow your yard to get a little untidy, and it might lead to a bounty for wildlife.If we tolerate a little messiness in our yards, parks, and countryside, we could have a lot more hawks around. I have voles and mice in my yard. This fall, the voles started eating my carrots. My initial reaction was to think that I needed to do something, and then I realized that it was okay. If I want hawks and screech owls to move into our yard, I need to have voles. Losing a few carrots is a small price to pay. If we all look for ways to give back a little, we can bring more life into our lives. We can experience more of the richness, wonder, and awe that life has to offer. We can become completely absorbed in the brilliant eyes of a hawk.
Bill’s piece was an account of a day spent trapping hawks for research purposes in southwest Illinois, and I highly encourage you to read it. It captures the essence of coming face-to-face “with wildness.” And like the above, it’s about living in harmony with nature rather than attempting to control it.
An Evanston stunner
The Gray-crowned Rosy Finch is almost a mythical species to some. Found only on the highest mountains, their scarcity is matched only by their vibrant coloration. There’s no guarantee that one will even encounter one on a trip to the Rockies, for the barren terrain above treeline is a cold, windy, and forbidding place.
All this said, a Gray-crowned Rosy Finch appeared in Evanston, Illinois, on Oct. 29, found by a sharp-eyed undergrad along the lakefront. Hard to believe, but the species has been seen in Illinois previously, and became the first Rosy Finch seen in the state in 33 years.
Upcoming screenings
All this said, a Gray-crowned Rosy Finch appeared in Evanston, Illinois, on Oct. 29, found by a sharp-eyed undergrad along the lakefront. Hard to believe, but the species has been seen in Illinois previously, and became the first Rosy Finch seen in the state in 33 years.
November 15 - THE WORLD OF MONTY AND ROSE, Thatcher Pavilion, 8030 Chicago Avenue, River Forest, Ill., 6 p.m.
November 28 - FLUDDLES, McHenry County College, Luecht Auditorium, McHenry, Ill., 6:30 p.m.
December 6 - THE MAGIC STUMP, Thatcher Pavilion, 8030 Chicago Avenue, River Forest, Ill., 6 p.m.
December 9 - FLUDDLES, Rock Springs Nature Center, 3939 Nearing Lane, Decatur, Ill., 2 p.m.
A call for Encouragers
Mark Catesby relied on the support of subscribers, or Encouragers, to pay for his work. Rather than waiting to complete an entire volume, he would regularly send illustrations to Encouragers for years and years. This way he could afford to continue his passion for depicting the birds of the Americas. With This Week in Birding on the cusp of its third anniversary, you can become an Encourager, too—of this newsletter. Just click the button below to begin the process of becoming a Paid Subscriber. Subscriptions start at $50 per year and are also offered at $5 per month.
Thanks for writing about the prevalence of a fear of nature. One of the comments on my hawk essay was someone asking about hawks flying off with their dog. Our collective fear of nature and obsession with tidy yards is one of the primary barriers to improving the lives of birds. We can all lead by example in this regard and resist the urge to remove all leaves from our yards this time of year. You can mow over and mulch a remarkable quantity of leaves in your yard. We routinely rake up a foot of leaves and mow them into our grass. This adds organic matter and ultimately is good for the grass. Leaving piles of leaves and branches on the margins of your yard provides cover for the birds and you can remove them in the spring and your grass will resume growing. You can also talk about this with your neighbors and let them know that you see this as a common sense thing to do. Lead with confidence in your views and eventually some of your neighbors will follow suit.
I fear no birds ... except a territorial Goshawk and, of course, all junco species with yellow eyes, most notably Volcano Junco -- terrifying -- and, to a lesser degree, Yellow-eyed Junco! 😝🤣