Locally Wild 7/2/2023

By: Jennifer Richardson Holt

When I was young a show came on public television that I enjoyed.  If I am not mistaken it came on Saturday afternoons.  The television show was Mutual of Omaha’s Wild America. I cannot remember the fellow’s name that narrated it, but he most assuredly had the voice for it.  I am not entirely certain why an insurance company was sponsoring a nature show on public television, and honestly, I was far older than I care to admit before I realized that Mutual of Omaha was the sponsor and not some strange region of the country with which I was unfamiliar. But this show presented the likes of cougars and bears, elk and eagles. It was quite the spectacle of the natural goings on.  I cannot say that, as a child, I expected to be living in such a kingdom myself once I reached adulthood.

Now, you may be thinking that I am overexaggerating. But let me begin by telling you about some of the natural residents in and around my home.  Our property has the pleasure of having at least one pair of hawks.  There are multiple breeds native to Alabama, and I am not sure of the type exactly, but I think the couple is either a Sharp Shinned Hawk or a Red Shouldered Hawk.  I can tell you two things about them of which I am absolutely certain and that is that they are very vocal, and they are very large.  One of them was sitting on the gate that frames our driveway as my daughter and I were leaving one day, and I was not mentally prepared for the size of it, neither as he perched stoically nor as he spread his massive wings and retreated to the nearest oak as our vehicle neared him.  I don’t think he was particularly alarmed by my Jeep though. I feel it is more likely that I simply annoyed him with my presence and far less that he felt even slightly threatened by me.  I may have had him in size but in fierceness, well, let’s just say I am not challenging him to any form of fight lest it involve our knowledge of useless trivia.

He and his mate, very frequently cry loudly from the many trees around our home. I wish I knew what they were being so adamant about. I have a feeling we are graced with their presence due to another population that we have around our home. We like to joke that we are squirrel farmers and very proficient ones at that. It is not just that we have a few squirrels under a tree here and there. I am almost convinced that we may have somehow robbed another area of all their squirrels and now they all live with us.  There have been multiple occasions when I have seen well over ten of their busy tails in simply pulling out of the garage.  I have a feeling that their presence may be what endears our hawks to us, though if their numbers have decreased at all I cannot remotely tell.

Our squirrels aren’t even that put off by people anymore.  Just a few days ago I was out with our new puppy in our fenced in back yard and a squirrel was just casually perusing the ground not 6 feet from us.  I could not help but question this decision out loud. This was a level of boldness that I had not before seen. It actually took the dog a minute to begin pursuit because I think that even she was shocked that this squirrel had the guts to just be casually sauntering about so close to a potential threat.  When that pup did begin the chase (with unmitigated joy and fervor might I add) the squirrel didn’t even get in nearly as much of a hurry as I expected before heading up the fence and to the nearest tree limb.  Now, I should probably add here that this squirrel was, as seemingly all our squirrels are, very close to the same size as the puppy in question but I don’t think that truly matters.  Both had fortitude that was disproportional to their bodies in size.

I won’t even get into the forever hunting game that goes on within my own walls. I am not navigating though giant predators outside my house, but the toying pursuit is a constant within my home. At any given moment, a tiny chocolate colored wolf (or weewolf as we call her on occasion) could be in full gallop after a miniature black leopard.  But you are also just as likely to see that black beast lying in wait to pounce upon his canine sibling. I am surrounded both inside my home and outside by a veritable animal kingdom. I am thankful to be able to be this immersed in God’s magnificent creation. I am living my own public television nature special but, if I’m being honest, I wouldn’t have it any other way. 

ennifer Richardson Holt