The runt of the litter was whelped March 28th, 2021; Echo, OR. Echo is east of the Blue Mountains, off I-84 on the way from La Grande to Boardman. Though smaller than her sibling stockdog pups, she apparently took what she needed from the food supply because she came plump and lively.
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Must Mean Spring!
Well, the bad news first! I am not so happy to see the homecoming of the ~ dozen Starlings and a few House Sparrows (English Sparrows) but these species remind me of how similar they are to homo sapiens. They are very accomplished survivalists and they like to live concentrated in groups. They breed prolifically and they tolerate, and even benefit, from close proximity to hominids.
My “Home” House Sparrows (though I hate to generalize about species) are not very good nest builders. Their nests look like the dust bunnies under my bed except the building materials are larger. [Peterson’s Field Guide describes their nest as “a bulky mass”!
My “home” Starlings
amass in numbers, perching closely together to gang up on any flicker, blue
bird or wren that might happen by looking for a nice cavity in our trees (or my
house) in which to shelter themselves and/or their young. Peterson’s also defines
them as “garrulous”! My starlings raise two clutches a year! I really don’t
know about the sparrows.
Last week I discovered Stephen
Hawking’s interesting hypothesis on this question. Believing in evolution, he
theorizes that, because evolution is a grindingly slow process, we have
progressed (emotionally and intellectually) little beyond our cave men
ancestors. While accessible knowledge has grown exponentially, as individuals
we can no longer access the “whole” of the knowledge available to us. He asks
if we can even imagine reading, much less studying, every book in our own
city’s library. It’s incredible that not more than ~300 years ago, people could
do so. Thus, he observes that we have, by necessity, come to depend on
increasing specialization.
Steven’s theorem makes sense. Though we have made
astounding strides technologically, we cannot yet cope with the task of
applying this knowledge. We are not yet able to cooperate and coordinate
effectively to significantly benefit ecological and social sustainability. The
progression of knowledge repeatedly shows us the undeniable interrelated
complexity of the “known” and the “unknown.” Again, and again, we are returned
to the web of inter-connectedness and the realization of how little we know.
But I don’t find this situation hopeless. Even though our innate human survival instincts remain dominant in our psyches, i.e., that “me and mine” prevail, I believe we are evolving in the process. [Perhaps we can hope for a widespread beneficial mutation to put us on a fast track! J! Or a worldwide epiphany? Who knows?] As things are, however, I can’t even begin to imagine how we can coordinate an effective global unification process to save ourselves!
There have been attempts ....
Chuang-tzu
(The Tao)
Scholarly
translation by Stephen Mitchell
Land Gifts vw#5 – Nature’s Food Bank
Today as I glanced out the kitchen window, a movement caught my eye. There they were, the makers of the tracks I‘d observed on the snow for the last 2 weeks! California Quail, approximately a dozen of them at the top of the lower orchard, running around on the new snow and thrusting their little heads down (while never mussing their curved head plumes) retrieving the food they had come for.
I suddenly realized what was feeding them. Why, it was last year’s apple harvest which had been so plentiful, so late, and with so many small-sized fruits! I hadn’t picked many; just the biggest ones, disdaining the small ones. I was too busy with other priorities; too hot, too tired.
Now, as I watched the busy cluster of these beautiful creatures, I felt my heart healing a small weight that I had been carrying since last fall’s abundant harvest (or should I say, my non-harvest?). Having been raised by my parents, both of whom were children of the depression and a pre-social-services government, I am deeply instilled in the moral imperative of not wasting food and fiber. I had been feeling somewhat guilty for leaving so much good food on the old apple tree.
As I watched the quail families, I
understood the lesson. I am forgiven for “wasting” these apples. Nature is
compensating for my deficiencies and transforming my neglect into her own bounteous
food bank. Our quail families were feasting on the apple seeds, the fallen
grass seeds, and maybe even on the remaining shriveled fruit lying under and being
softened by the snow.
Again, the Land Gives!
