Well, we have done it again. Our essays this week are remarkably similar. We both wrote about supporting swallows by putting up nest boxes. It seems like there is synchrinicity at work here. We are like kids coordinating our outfits for school.
This is so well-written-- I wish everyone was required to read it! I've gone thru a lot of suffering, worrying about climate change. When Trump was elected I was distressed, I couldn't sleep well for months.
My husband and I have changed a lot of our own habits and encouraged our friends to do the same. I thought if a lot of people quit eating meat, for example-- something any person could do on their own that we could start to get a handle on climate change. But even nature lovers are resistant to changing their habits. So we've taken a bunch of steps, but have gotten mostly nowhere with encouraging friends and family, and we are waiting for society to realize that it has to shift its eating habits and many other habits as well. Like, its obvious, isn't it? After an online discussion (argument) over whether climate change is real, with me carefully debunking each of his claims and misinformed websites and giving him references for each claim I made, my nephew said that I have to apologize to him before he will talk to me again.
One of the interesting things to me is that about diet in particular, is that in making a major change like quitting animal products (in a stepwise fashion), after a while I become accustomed to and then loved the new regimen. I really enjoyed steaks in the past, so I find that kind of funny. And it seemed to help shift my perspective on the world and my animal and plant co-inhabitants.
I honestly don't know what to do now to help raise awareness or help effect change, except for giving money to groups like EarthJustice and Center for Biological Diversity and participating in citizen science projects. If I said what came to mind about climate change all the time, I believe I'd have no friends left. But this whole journey has led me to feel grateful for the beautiful habitats I live near and an expansion of my love for birds to all sorts of creatures down to small bugs, which I try to photograph for iNaturalist. But any joy is accompanied by sadness as I wonder how many of these creatures will be around in the near or far future.
In this world where the threat of climate change seemingly isn't top of mind, essays like this hit me hard as I read that my fears are indeed well founded. I think about skipping it and whatever pain it may cause but I am drawn in and can't stop reading. Meanwhile I continue to wait for some major societal realization or opportunity for progress to which I can contribute.
There's a necessary acceptance of all this, right? We feel grief and struggle toward acceptance. It's not easy, but it's necessary. We have to accept the state of things - all the work to do amid the harms done - at the same time we take heart in what good work is already being done. How we communicate to each other is vital, something I'm still figuring out too. I probably spend too much time writing about the scale of the problem, but given how few of us seem aware enough of the Earth's transformation, I've focused on spreading that word. And so, on we go... Thank you for sharing all this, Leda Beth.
I would humbly suggest a slight tweak to the question of our evolution. Believing we have somehow 'sidestepped' its laws is a huge mistake. We need to return to those evolutionary strategies that allowed us to be a successful species for countless millennia. The c. 10,000 years of so-called 'civilization' is also a mere blink in the process of evolution. Thinking we have evolved to another stage in the past 10K years is just another self-delusion.
Thank you, Jason, for bringing Mr. Lopez to my attention. It still leaves me in welcome awe how so many (not yet nearly enough) people arrive in more or less the same place from such diverse starting places. My own journey began with reading Daniel Quinn's 'Ishmael,' followed by many others. More recently, Jean Liedloff's 'The Continuum Concept' added some framework to Quinn's exhortation to developing a 'different vision,' an idea with which Lopez would seem to agree, whilst using different terminology.
A topic I have been addressing recently in my own musing essays is how, despite often being expressed in highly 'unproductive' ways, millions of USAians who seem to just be angry and hateful are actually yearning for that different vision, one that is much more in line with our evolutionary needs for stability and predictability. They talk about the 'good ole days' and are mistaken about who/what has 'ruined' them, but I strongly believe the inner yearnings are solidly based on their innate evolutionary selves trying to 'get out' and, to use Liedloff's term, make things 'right.'
Great to hear someone mentioning "Ishmael." That was an early inspiration of mine as well. And yes, common ground by definition is much larger than the fissures running through it. It's always a question of communication to bridge the gaps and a tamping down of the voices doing the opposite. A never-ending task, it seems. Thank you, John.
Thanks, Jason. For decades, I've done an open-eyed, outdoor meditation on Tree Swallows. I simply with sitting among them and allow their swoops and swirls to be like the breath. Anytime my mind wanders, which is normal of course, I return to the swallows.
And I'll ready myself for that Vox essay; more and more, writers on animal justice are changing my behavior -- perhaps more than anything I read.
That sounds like a lovely idea, Bryan. I'll have to give that a whirl. I do stop by my colonies once in a while just to watch them feed, drink, and socialize on the wing. I also recommend hoarding some small white feathers for nesting season, then picking a breezy day to stand among the swallows casting feathers into the wind. It's instant joy watching the zipping swallows swooping down and interrupting the lighter-than-air flight of the feathers.
I love this, thank you! Makes me happy that you are helping the swallows and I love your writing. Downeast Audubon has over 400 boxes in our "bluebird trail" in Hancock County, housing 4 species, and many get their data uploaded to Nestwatch, which now has an app for the uploading part.(Yes, I am putting in a plug for Nestwatch) No more data sheets and clipboards for me. My 14 boxes at Cooper Farm in Sedgwick are fun to monitor and there is no entering data at the end of the season. It is an amazing experience to "peek in" at the goings on in the boxes. Sometimes the female will remain on eggs or newly hatched chicks with a defiant look and I just close the box back up. Competition between swallows, and between swallows at bluebirds has been fierce in the past, and I even have had, I surmised, newly hatched swallow chicks disappear, removed by bluebirds I think, with a new bluebird nest appearing the next week over the old one. Many times I just stick my phone in and snap a photo so as not to disturb them much.
The last few years there haven't been enough birds to elicit fights-- there are enough houses for everyone. Before, I took to adding a new box right when a lot of the swallows were about to hatch, and one year, it seemed to work-- a new bluebird nest appearing in it and no swallows disappearing. This year the swallows were 100% successful except for a few chicks disappearing that I interpreted to mean they had died and been removed by the parents. The bluebirds were too except for a bear knocking one box down and shattering it-- the chicks were about fledging age so I think they may have escaped into the darkness as the bear was fumbling around. No feathers or other evidence of them being injured.
I've had several bear incidents over the years-- one year three chicks were still alive, sitting on the ground next to their shattered nest, their parents feeding them still. We were able to install a new box nearby and they successfully fledged later on. Whenever this happens I put the replacement box somewhere else, not too close to the woods.
We leave the boxes up all year and I think some species must roost in them although the gaps left for ventilation probably make them too cold in the winter. A friend of mine has one in view of his front window and he counted 9 bluebirds coming out of it early one spring.
I hope you don't mind me writing an essay back to you-- but I was very inspired by yours!
Thank you, Leda Beth, for all this great information. So glad you're up there doing so much good work for the swallows and bluebirds (and bears). It's wonderful how resilient the swallows can be, isn't it? You've got me thinking again about participating in NestWatch.
I have not heard that bluebirds will remove swallow nestlings. That's another level of conflict I had not considered.
Well, we have done it again. Our essays this week are remarkably similar. We both wrote about supporting swallows by putting up nest boxes. It seems like there is synchrinicity at work here. We are like kids coordinating our outfits for school.
Looking forward to reading your piece, Bill. I wish purple martins were common around here, along with big populations of barn and tree swallows too.
Maybe someday we should go birding in matching track suits.
This is so well-written-- I wish everyone was required to read it! I've gone thru a lot of suffering, worrying about climate change. When Trump was elected I was distressed, I couldn't sleep well for months.
My husband and I have changed a lot of our own habits and encouraged our friends to do the same. I thought if a lot of people quit eating meat, for example-- something any person could do on their own that we could start to get a handle on climate change. But even nature lovers are resistant to changing their habits. So we've taken a bunch of steps, but have gotten mostly nowhere with encouraging friends and family, and we are waiting for society to realize that it has to shift its eating habits and many other habits as well. Like, its obvious, isn't it? After an online discussion (argument) over whether climate change is real, with me carefully debunking each of his claims and misinformed websites and giving him references for each claim I made, my nephew said that I have to apologize to him before he will talk to me again.
One of the interesting things to me is that about diet in particular, is that in making a major change like quitting animal products (in a stepwise fashion), after a while I become accustomed to and then loved the new regimen. I really enjoyed steaks in the past, so I find that kind of funny. And it seemed to help shift my perspective on the world and my animal and plant co-inhabitants.
I honestly don't know what to do now to help raise awareness or help effect change, except for giving money to groups like EarthJustice and Center for Biological Diversity and participating in citizen science projects. If I said what came to mind about climate change all the time, I believe I'd have no friends left. But this whole journey has led me to feel grateful for the beautiful habitats I live near and an expansion of my love for birds to all sorts of creatures down to small bugs, which I try to photograph for iNaturalist. But any joy is accompanied by sadness as I wonder how many of these creatures will be around in the near or far future.
In this world where the threat of climate change seemingly isn't top of mind, essays like this hit me hard as I read that my fears are indeed well founded. I think about skipping it and whatever pain it may cause but I am drawn in and can't stop reading. Meanwhile I continue to wait for some major societal realization or opportunity for progress to which I can contribute.
There's a necessary acceptance of all this, right? We feel grief and struggle toward acceptance. It's not easy, but it's necessary. We have to accept the state of things - all the work to do amid the harms done - at the same time we take heart in what good work is already being done. How we communicate to each other is vital, something I'm still figuring out too. I probably spend too much time writing about the scale of the problem, but given how few of us seem aware enough of the Earth's transformation, I've focused on spreading that word. And so, on we go... Thank you for sharing all this, Leda Beth.
I would humbly suggest a slight tweak to the question of our evolution. Believing we have somehow 'sidestepped' its laws is a huge mistake. We need to return to those evolutionary strategies that allowed us to be a successful species for countless millennia. The c. 10,000 years of so-called 'civilization' is also a mere blink in the process of evolution. Thinking we have evolved to another stage in the past 10K years is just another self-delusion.
I agree completely, John. We have a cultural sense of a separation that does not exist. Did I write something here that suggested otherwise?
LOL. I reread your wonderful article but couldn't find the passage to which I thought I was referring. My bad. :(
No problem, John. Thank you for taking the time to read again and respond. I really appreciate a having such thoughtful readers.
Thank you, Jason, for bringing Mr. Lopez to my attention. It still leaves me in welcome awe how so many (not yet nearly enough) people arrive in more or less the same place from such diverse starting places. My own journey began with reading Daniel Quinn's 'Ishmael,' followed by many others. More recently, Jean Liedloff's 'The Continuum Concept' added some framework to Quinn's exhortation to developing a 'different vision,' an idea with which Lopez would seem to agree, whilst using different terminology.
A topic I have been addressing recently in my own musing essays is how, despite often being expressed in highly 'unproductive' ways, millions of USAians who seem to just be angry and hateful are actually yearning for that different vision, one that is much more in line with our evolutionary needs for stability and predictability. They talk about the 'good ole days' and are mistaken about who/what has 'ruined' them, but I strongly believe the inner yearnings are solidly based on their innate evolutionary selves trying to 'get out' and, to use Liedloff's term, make things 'right.'
Great to hear someone mentioning "Ishmael." That was an early inspiration of mine as well. And yes, common ground by definition is much larger than the fissures running through it. It's always a question of communication to bridge the gaps and a tamping down of the voices doing the opposite. A never-ending task, it seems. Thank you, John.
I just wish the 'right words' could be enough, but I fear it's gonna take some serious catastrophes to fill in those gaps.
Thanks, Jason. For decades, I've done an open-eyed, outdoor meditation on Tree Swallows. I simply with sitting among them and allow their swoops and swirls to be like the breath. Anytime my mind wanders, which is normal of course, I return to the swallows.
And I'll ready myself for that Vox essay; more and more, writers on animal justice are changing my behavior -- perhaps more than anything I read.
That sounds like a lovely idea, Bryan. I'll have to give that a whirl. I do stop by my colonies once in a while just to watch them feed, drink, and socialize on the wing. I also recommend hoarding some small white feathers for nesting season, then picking a breezy day to stand among the swallows casting feathers into the wind. It's instant joy watching the zipping swallows swooping down and interrupting the lighter-than-air flight of the feathers.
Site fidelity is something we all need more of.
Indeed, J.E.. Whether the site is local or global, right?
Thank you, Jason, for your writing today made my heart flutter with joy!
That's a kind comment, Fotini. Thank you.
I love this, thank you! Makes me happy that you are helping the swallows and I love your writing. Downeast Audubon has over 400 boxes in our "bluebird trail" in Hancock County, housing 4 species, and many get their data uploaded to Nestwatch, which now has an app for the uploading part.(Yes, I am putting in a plug for Nestwatch) No more data sheets and clipboards for me. My 14 boxes at Cooper Farm in Sedgwick are fun to monitor and there is no entering data at the end of the season. It is an amazing experience to "peek in" at the goings on in the boxes. Sometimes the female will remain on eggs or newly hatched chicks with a defiant look and I just close the box back up. Competition between swallows, and between swallows at bluebirds has been fierce in the past, and I even have had, I surmised, newly hatched swallow chicks disappear, removed by bluebirds I think, with a new bluebird nest appearing the next week over the old one. Many times I just stick my phone in and snap a photo so as not to disturb them much.
The last few years there haven't been enough birds to elicit fights-- there are enough houses for everyone. Before, I took to adding a new box right when a lot of the swallows were about to hatch, and one year, it seemed to work-- a new bluebird nest appearing in it and no swallows disappearing. This year the swallows were 100% successful except for a few chicks disappearing that I interpreted to mean they had died and been removed by the parents. The bluebirds were too except for a bear knocking one box down and shattering it-- the chicks were about fledging age so I think they may have escaped into the darkness as the bear was fumbling around. No feathers or other evidence of them being injured.
I've had several bear incidents over the years-- one year three chicks were still alive, sitting on the ground next to their shattered nest, their parents feeding them still. We were able to install a new box nearby and they successfully fledged later on. Whenever this happens I put the replacement box somewhere else, not too close to the woods.
We leave the boxes up all year and I think some species must roost in them although the gaps left for ventilation probably make them too cold in the winter. A friend of mine has one in view of his front window and he counted 9 bluebirds coming out of it early one spring.
I hope you don't mind me writing an essay back to you-- but I was very inspired by yours!
Best regards,
Leda Beth
I forgot to mention that Downeast Audubon fledges well over a thousand chicks and perhaps much more than that because not everyone monitors or sends in their data-- you can see the summary of last year here https://drive.google.com/file/d/1KD8anBeu2nani6oEgH-PiPiPcES9yZmt/view
Thank you, Leda Beth, for all this great information. So glad you're up there doing so much good work for the swallows and bluebirds (and bears). It's wonderful how resilient the swallows can be, isn't it? You've got me thinking again about participating in NestWatch.
I have not heard that bluebirds will remove swallow nestlings. That's another level of conflict I had not considered.
HI Jason-- I don't know for certain that this is what happened but it did happen a few times so it seems the likely explanation.
Such a beautiful essay Jason.
Thank you, Michael.