For Most Natural Reasons 2/13/2022

By: Jennifer Richardson Holt

I think perhaps I have neglected to give them enough credit.  I’ve seen them going about their lives and any thought I gave was with my own added motivations. I think now though that perhaps I have not thought long enough about what the actual reasoning behind the living was.  If you are wondering of whom I speak, I am talking about the natives of my area though not the human kind.  The wildlife around here is an ever-present part of our existence, especially in a rural area such as where I live but I have tried to look a bit closer as of late, and though it may sound like my cheese has slid ever so slightly off my cracker, I am seeing more and more careful thought put into the things that these creatures do.  Maybe careful thought isn’t the right term.  And I assure you that there have definitely been times where I have seen them do things that could only be described as a heaping helping of idiocy but lately there have been things here and there that make me think that they do in fact have an agenda.  I also wonder if they ever watch us do things with furrowed brow and condescending glances but that is another story for another day.  But as of late, I really do think there is more to the creatures and their comings and goings that meets the eye.

The consideration of this all started when I noticed something. I didn’t just notice it once, but I regularly notice it. I always had to question, why do vultures, or buzzards as we are far more inclined to call them around these parts, so often decide to congregate in dead trees. I mean if they are to perch up in a height it is almost always in a bare tree. It fascinated me at the appropriateness of it.  It perfectly promotes the proper ambience that they should convey.  It seems to me that there would be nothing inherently wrong with them resting themselves in a living tree full of leaves (assuming the season allowed such), but no. You find full wakes of them, which is one of many absolutely glorious collective nouns for animals that I adore, alight in tall grey limbs that seem to surprisingly hold the weight despite their crumbling appearance. I always found it intriguing that, to put it simply, the spooky bird picks the spooky tree. Now, there also has been a new development I, and others I have discussed this with, have noticed.  Of course, we know what the vulture dish of choice is hence, they are often found near roads profiting from the poor decisions of other creatures. However, as of late I have noticed many more vultures themselves becoming the victims of that same fate.  More and more I see a dark unidentifiable lump in the road that has just a few dark feathers that flutter in the breeze of passing vehicles.  Either they have devised some sort of kamikaze strategy to simply add even more to the macabre ambience, the food is getting too good to leave or they’re too full to leave it. I of course like to lean to the former.  It’s rather devoted of them to sacrifice some of the brethren just for the sake of atmosphere.

I mentioned recently the deer feeder we put out for observational purposes.  Well, it has proven to be a raging success and those clever things have thoroughly worked out the schedule. They wait for about 10 minutes after each scheduled dispensing of corn and out they come ever so casually.  I think they line up right within the trees of the wood line and just wait.  This is an entertaining visual to me.  They are several families. There are at least two bucks, probably six or seven does and many varying ages of young.  I picture them in neat lines casually waiting, the does chatting amongst themselves while the young bounce and kick and gallop about.  But yes, they wait patiently until the time is right then meander out to enjoy their easy pickings.  They have also made some assumptions about us. I am gathering that they have decided that since we’ve been giving them sustenance for a while now without attempting to do them any harm, that we are tolerable for our race. They have found it perfectly reasonable to graze all around our home without much concern for us.  They keep an eye on us because, well though they may not be the brightest bulbs in the animal chandelier, they do know of what we are capable, but they see our comings and goings and it doesn’t hinder them much. They’re fine with our presence so long as the distance is a comfortable spread. Well, that and as long as the corn supply doesn’t run out.

We also have a resident hawk (sometimes a pair, sometimes just the one) on our property.  I haven’t decided yet what it is that inspires him but I daresay the only reason I haven’t is because I do not speak hawk.  He is quite the vocal fellow. He comments whilst in the trees. He comments whilst on the power lines. He comments whilst in the sky.  While he has done me the service of giving the property a name, (remember I’m an anglophile and every good British estate has a name and ours is Hawkwood Glen thanks for asking), but I do so wish I could know if his high volume commentary is positive or negative. I’d be happy to oblige if he has some request that I am able to assist him with but alas, I do not know what it is.  I don’t think however I am willing to put out a small rodent feeder for him though.  Let us hope that is not the content of his loud petition.

I have talked about all these creatures of feather and fur and tried to relate that sometimes, it seems like perhaps there is more depth than we think to those nondescript, everyday things. Well, this is interesting. I didn’t really have any plan to give this narrative much by way of depth of meaning or anything of the sort. I was just going to ramble a bit but here I am looking at things from a new perspective.  Maybe taking a look at the “why” behind the everyday things may just be something to try.  One of mine and my daughter’s favorite animated movies comes to mind and the lyrics to one of its songs. “If you walk the footsteps of a stranger, you’ll learn things you never knew you never knew.” Perhaps we don’t even so much have to walk in those steps, but simply if we just pay more attention to the little mundane goings on, I suppose in anything not just our local creatures, perhaps we will learn things of which we were ignorant of our ignorance.  I feel like buzzards appreciate the atmosphere they present, that deer are perfectly pleased with a schedule and that I could possibly uncover all sorts of mysteries if I were fluent in Hawk.  Who knows what other secrets are out there waiting to be discovered?