Nothing Ever Dies of Old Age in The Wild

There is no pity in The Wild, only Balance

I’m sitting on my backporch working. When the warmer weather hits, this is where I spend most of my time. I can see the woods behind our house, feel the sun on my bones, watch the bluejays, robins, orioles, cardinals, hummingbirds, nuthatches, morning doves, pigeons, squirrels, chipmunks and other assorted backyard denizens at the birdbaths, feeders and water buckets we leave out for those I call The Old Ones.

I call animals The Old Ones because of my time studying anthropology. All the aboriginal peoples I’ve studied have views of wildlife that differ from those of most modern people and aboriginal views have rubbed off on me. Case in point, I’ve made friends with several generations of raccoons, turkeys, deer, skunks, opossum, woodchucks, beavers, fox and owl over the years. You can see many of them under WildLife.

Even with the animals I’m friendly with, I still know they are wild. Many take food from my hand but none of them are tame, none are domesticated. They are wild.

One of the rules of The Wild is that nothing dies of old age in The Wild. It just doesn’t happen. Animals grow old, grow tired, can’t move as quickly, can’t move as well, get injured, can’t get at whatever seed or bread or foodstuffs they can find and, in the end, even predators become prey.

Sam the Hawk

 
Even in my little backyard, backing up to many woodland acres, I’ve occasionally seen scatterings of feathers where Sam and Aris, our mated hawks, have caught something too slow at the feeders, and seen the remains of chipmunks, voles and mice in Bart the Owl’s pellets.

Bart the Owl

 
Because I work quietly and prefer to listen to the sounds of The Wild (and sometimes Bach) the animals tend to ignore me. Sometimes all those around the feeders and water buckets will jump and flee and I’ll catch site of Reynard’s (a male fox) bushy red tail as he hurries back into deeper cover. I know he and his mate have kits to feed and don’t begrudge him his time hunting in my yard.

But today I noticed a pigeon hopping among the flock that visits our feeders. Definitely hopping, not just oddly walking. I stared and noticed this pigeon had one leg, hence the hop. But there was something else odd.

There was something strange in its tail feathers. It could still fly. It was a little awkward getting airborne, true, but it could still take flight when the others scattered. It was one of the last to leave the ground, though.

I stared then picked up some binoculars I keep beside me on the table. The strange thing in its tail feathers was its other leg. Broken, twisted, how it got pegged in that position I don’t know.

I know animals can feel pain. I’ve read the studies. I know. I also noticed that the male pigeons, the ones perpetually strutting and harassing the females at their seeds, were leaving this one alone. If anything, they knocked it over in their quest to show their plumage to some other female.

This wounded pigeon would flap its wings and get back up. Sometimes that broken leg would get in the way of the wings and the pigeon would open its beak to make a sound I could not hear.

But my ears are not those of Reynard who has kits to feed.

And suddenly the other pigeons scattered, the chipmunks dashed into their holes, the squirrels scurried up their trees, the bluejays and robins and orioles and cardinals and others went to each and every compass point.

And Reynard stopped to look at me, the pigeon in his jaws, its one good leg still kicking, its head still bobbing, its beak still open making sounds I could not hear.

Reynard bowed his head, turned and trotted into the wood. I, transfixed, had stopped breathing but for how long I didn’t know. My chest was tight. I was sickened and relieved and had not moved.

A moment later and the wildlife returned. My breathe relaxed. I turned back to my computer and started to write.


This post originally appeared on the now defunct An Economy of Meaning blog and was reprinted on Discover The Practice.

Aros, The Love Hawk

Watchful, patient, attentive. Anybody notice that Love is a lot like Predation?

Earlier this week we were graced by Aros. At first I thought he was saying “Eros” so we called him “The Love Hawk.”

Turns out we couldn’t quite make out his dialect. Aros, not Eros. For a while we thought he was saying “Aeros” and to be honest, that might be correct.
Swyrlian, the Hawk language, is not the easiest language for humans to understand. At least not this human. And for that matter, his dialect is Northeast Woodlands, making it a little more difficult. It’s like Portuguese to me; quite fast. Everything slurs together. I keep waiting for someone to take a breath.

We did learn that Hawks always start their names with “A”. We spent time with Avis, Aris, and Avid. Opossums always start their names with the “O”. Don’t know which language came first. Probably Opossum. Predators always evolve once prey exists to prey upon. Evolve before there’s prey and evolution’s screwed up, not doing its job. Not a chance, that.

Notice that “A” pattern in the Hawk names? Avis, Aris, Avid, Aros? No idea why. It’s not obvious in the Swyrlian. Maybe Lower Swyrlian but not Standard.

Once we got the name right and tuned our ears, we apologized for the “Love Hawk” reference and Aros laughed (Hawk laughter can be chilling if you’re unprepared. They stare at you intently, their beak opens, their rasper tongue darts in and out. Sometimes their talons strengthen their hold) and said we were spot on, he is known as The Love Hawk among his aerial peers.

Spend more time making yourself someone somebody would want. You can’t be a predator unless you’re willing to be the prey. Especially in love.

 
That’s when he pointed out that humans are confusing to Hawk and, indeed, most Old Ones. Being in love is an act of predation. You are going after something, hunting something, tracking something, not for food but for that other great need, procreation. The skills used for one are the skills used for another.

Where humans – as usual – muck it up is not knowing the limits of one or the other. Love becoming stalking is no longer love and the hunter becomes the prey of their own confused desires.

“I’ve often heard humans say, ‘If I can’t have you then nobody can’,” he said. “Few say, ‘If you can’t have me then nobody can’ and the truth is ‘If you don’t want me somebody else will.’ Spend more time making yourself someone somebody would want. You can’t be a predator unless you’re willing to be the prey. Especially in love.”

Wisdom of the Old Ones, that.

Meanwhile, Aros…