May 23, 2019

Live Simply, So The Birds Can Simply Live

- photo credit Brian Sullivan


I wait for the return of the swallows every spring. For me, they rival the robin for the position of Official Harbinger of the season. 

On the west coast we lived close to a vehicle bridge under which many swallows nested in their little mud homes built on the girders. Now on the east coast, we live on an old farm that has old, open outbuildings, including a small barn, that provide perfect nesting sites for swallows. 

Over the years the wait for the swallows in spring has become troubling.

In Nova Scotia (like most of North America), swallow numbers are down dramatically since the 1980s. It is hardly an isolated case in the bird universe. These ancient descendants of dinosaurs are finally being done in by the new kid on the block, Homo consumericus. 

There are so many threats to the ecosystem that it is difficult to finger any one cause for the decline of birds. More than likely, these threats operate synergistically and therefore become a greater threat together than any one individually.


"The main causes of the recent decline in Barn Swallow populations are thought to be:
 
1) loss of nesting and foraging habitats due to conversion from conventional to modern farming techniques;
 
2) large-scale declines (or other perturbations) in insect populations; and
 
3) direct and indirect mortality due to an increase in climate perturbations on the breeding grounds."
Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada 


And I would add: 


4) high consumption lifestyles.


Because of the above, each spring when I spot the first barn swallow of the year, my heart skips a beat. Each returning individual is cause for celebration.  

Before long, small groups of swallows are squeaking and hunting acrobatically around our house, in the yard, and over the fields. When successful breeding takes place, the numbers increase in a most joyous way.

Each barn swallow can eat up to 1000 insects every day. They are perfectly designed to inhabit a specialized niche, which happens to encompass the human world (they like us!), and they do so with balance and efficiency. 

Something else I appreciate is how they demonstrate fearlessness and confidence in their flying skills as they zoom through the air, seemingly recklessly, but in full control.

If only I could live as simply and efficiently as these wonderful birds, without doing any harm, being supremely good at what I do, while adding beauty and a useful service to the circle of life. 

I live simply, so the barn swallows, and other birds, can simply live. When it comes down to choosing between a high consumption lifestyle and the birds, I choose birds.

It would truly be a "silent spring" if the swallows and other birds continued their current vanishing act right into extinction. I would miss them dearly.










2 comments:

  1. Anonymous5/24/2019

    I too look forward to the return of swallows in our area - such lovely and amazing birds. As a birder over the last couple decades I have certainly seen the decline in numbers of birds. Each year the birds do arrive or pass through, but in lower numbers. Makes me appreciate the ones I see all that much more. Enjoy your beautiful swallows! - Mary

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  2. I see declines in bird species as well. Every time I see a bird it is a celebration. I can't imagine a Silent Spring. It would be among our greatest loses. I love swallows!

    I have a good report on the Barred Owls in my area (South Carolina). I house sit and stay in a number of different neighborhoods. I hear Barred Owls call at sunset in every neighborhood I've stayed in this year. I even rescued an owlet who got into the street a few weeks ago. At the guidance of the Carolina Raptor Center who has saved, treated and released thousands of raptors, I took the owlet to them. It had eye damage in both eyes and wouldn't have survived on it's own or with the help of its mom and dad. (I had watched the owlet all day off and on. Mom was in the area. Mom was feeding it. There were two other owlets from the same nest on the ground and in trees. Mom knew what she was doing, but a human interfered and caused the owlet to get in the busy street. It is uncertain if the owlet got hit by a car or was blown by a passing car/s but it needed to be checked out before we could be sure it would be able to grow and learn to hunt. No words to describe how angry I was at the human for interfering.)

    The bird doctor at the raptor center said they would treat its eyes, but he didn't sound hopeful it would be able to be released. They will care for it and perhaps it will become an education bird or be in a zoo or something. They have a website that I can follow its progress. Fingers crossed it can heal and be released. Wildlife rescuers are my heroes.

    I would add to your list #5, but I would put it up there on top of the list at #1 -- too many people and too much money to scramble over. Too much money and too many people's desire for more than they have is wrecking the environment. I have deep grief about it as I know the NBA tribe does too.

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