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The Backyard & Beyond - December 2003 |
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One recent morning, I woke to the distant chatter of a Western Scrub-Jay. It was constant and although low, never-the-less annoying. I thought that bird is next to some homes. They are probably non-birders who are now wishing it would shut up, go away or die. Now they are thinking "those darn birds" or worse. Is this incident the beginning of a hatred of all birds. Funny things happen in peoples minds and preduduces start. I've heard people complain about jays, crows, starlings and such and the noise they make. I wanted to shout to the jay "shut up, whatever you are sqawking about can't be that bad as to destroy relationships between more humans and birds. You have enough people who could care less about your existance as it is." Then the jay was quiet. Maybe, just maybe, I was the only one aware of his morning chatter. Maybe I was the only one he annoyed. I read an article in National Wildlife Federations, National Wildlife Magazine about wolves in Yellowstone. A small aritcle also ran in 'The Columbian' Newspaper (Vancouver) lately on the same subject. When the wolves were removed form Yellowstone NP, the elk populations boomed. Hungry elk ate the new growth of willows and aspens which supported a variety and abundance of birds and understory plants. It seems the wolf, along with the beaver and the aspens have a powerfull effect on each other. Wolves travel along the streams and prey on beaver; beaver need aspen for food and dam construction; wolves control elk browsing by keeping them away from these areas, allowing aspen and willows to grow and beaver dams to flood the land, creating more good habitat for aspen. Healthy stands of aspen and willow provide habitat for birds. When will man learn he can not fool around with nature and have a natural area. I heard about the wolves and the controversary over their return to Yellowstone for years. Some people didn't want them in the area for one reason or another. I was on the side of the wolves return but I never realized that wolves would actually help the birds, those creatures that I care so much about. |
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