Beasts Among Us
Three Urban Scenes of Wildness
I have long believed that inspiring natural history is all around us. All we have to do is to take the time to observe. Such was the case for me on Tuesday.
Scene 1: A robin in the gutter of the house next door. In her mouth a cherry from our cherry tree. Apparently planning on a fine meal of plundered fruit, she hopped out of the gutter and landed a few inches up the roof, where she dropped the cherry. Unfortunately for her, the roof was sloped and the cherry rolled back into the gutter. So she tried again: hop into gutter, pick up cherry, drop it on the roof. Once again gravity prevailed and she watched it roll into the gutter. She must have done this a half dozen times, slowly nibbling away at the fruit on each attempt. But then a crow arrived, grabbed what remained of the cherry, stood in the gutter, and ate it. As they say, gravity sucks, particularly if you are a robin on a roof.
Scene 2: Raccoon in cherry tree. In his mouth a cherry from our cherry tree. This time the crows didn’t prevail. Despite their protests, the raccoon sat and consumed his plundered fruit, occasionally looking down at me with that wonderful masked face. ("It's just that masks are terribly comfortable -- I think everyone will be wearing them in the future," said Westley, in Princess Bride.) He seemed calm and relaxed, unperturbed by the birds, not that they had any reason to complain. Over the years, they and the squirrels and the robins and the jays have turned our cherry tree into their own private bird feeder, consuming all the fruit beyond our reach and most of the fruit we could potentially reach. At this point, we are content if we get enough cherries for a crisp, figuring that by not “taking” more we are doing our part to benefit the locals.
Scene 3: Four barred owls in a local park. After friends of our told of us owls in Ravenna Park, we headed over about an hour before sunset. Walking down the main trail in the ravine bottom (curiously the name Ravenna comes not from ravine but from the Italian town), we heard a buzzy, sort-of-raspy-hiss ahead of us. The sound came from what looked to be a juvenile barred owl, or at least the youngster’s head feathers seemed more fluffy, which in my little mind translates to an immature bird (though the hair atop my nearly bald head is often fluffy, too, which could account for my periodic actions of immaturity).
We eventually located four owls, each of which regularly flew from tree to tree. The highlight was when the mom, or at least an adult, caught a rat, flew up to a perch, began sectioning the meal, and served chunks to one youngster. Soon a second kid arrived, and muscled his or her sibling out of the way, which prompted mom to abandon the rat to her children. She then flew straight toward me, landed a social distance away, and nabbed a worm, which she ate. And, then she did it again, landing about 30 feet away. Clearly these birds are used to humans, though I still felt a bit odd watching, and hoped my interactions wouldn’t lead to problems for the birds.
In my ideal life, I’d live in a much wilder place than seven miles from downtown Seattle, but such a life has not been feasible for me for many years. This is not a complaint; I think it’s a statement that many people I know could make. One way I survive is to remain open to the possibilities of encounters such as these, and to actively seek them out by trying to be more observant, to pay attention, and to get outside, whether it’s in our backyard, in city parks, or along our shorelines.
I’d love to hear of your own explorations and discoveries. If you feel so inclined please share them in the comments section.
I am excited to announce that I am leading my first in-the-field walk in more than 18 months. On July 18, I will be leading my Denny Hill Regrade walk for the Field Trip Society. The walk lasts about 90 minutes, covers about two miles, and is very flat (because the hill that was there is gone).
Also, if you have friends in Port Angeles and/or Everett, I have virtual talks scheduled in both cities next week.
A barred owl family has been spotted in the West Duwamish Greenbelt, too. See photos at https://wdgtrails.wordpress.com/the-greenbelt/.