Wow, was she going crazy at my window! You know it is winter when you see the cardinals and chickadees replace the sparrows on the pine bushes. I love animals, insects and reptiles (mostly due to their scientifically proven, predictable nature). Humans will change over a dime (pun intended). Most of them don't seem to mind my nasty voice either. ;)
I have over 50 references to animals on 'Idiot Savant'. The main character Ian has a special bond with them and why wouldn't he? My own dog gets me more than most humans.
This Cardinal at my window seemed to be sending me a direct message. I investigated as to why she would be flapping at the glass like that. There was a nest above her covered in snow, but that belonged to the morning doves from the summer. I looked down below to see if another creature or baby was there...nothing. I went outside and looked to see if she had somewhere in the house she could previously enter and now couldn't...no idea. SO, I am leaving her to it.
As a child I brought home all sorts of half-dead animals in the hope of saving them. I haven't grown callous, but I have reached the point where I can be okay with this little feathered friend figuring it out. She isn't hurt, she was just excited or upset. The reason I have learned to let her figure it out is because as a human, I need to keep my distance from her. This mentality has evolved even in the last year.
I am not opposed to feeding animals if I think they need it. I do have a hummingbird feeder because I think people plant less flowers for nectar than they used to, but selfishly I just really like them. I don't put up seed-feeders because farm cats have a targeted area to kill birds then. I have thrown the odd nut to the squirrels but they live near walnut trees and corn fields so I hardly feel badly for them.
The biggest reason I leave them be is because I rent here, I don't own this house. I don't want to set a pattern where the animals rely on humans only to have me move away and have the next tenant lay out poison to try and get rid of them. Basically, I am trying to let nature be nature. For that reason, I almost shouldn't be putting out the hummingbird nectar...but I am not perfect. :)
I hear of people killing certain 'pests' on their property to bring up the population of other ones. As a nature lover, I try to let them all be because if I want country living, country living comes with country things. I deter ants with coffee grounds etc but my point to this blog is to emphasize not getting too close to them. I'll tell you why.
While we love when wild animals come over to us, the 'wild' that is in them is what saves them from being hurt while we sleep. A deer needs to know to run from trouble because they aren't a fighter. If we tame them too much, they become susceptible to being killed from being too trusting. Basically, if I feed them, hunters have an easy shot too.
As humans, we could learn something from this. We could learn to be curious and explore with some trepidation. There are all sorts of warning signs we ignore when entering dangerous relationships. I watched my pup Sloppy and the new neighbour dog eyeball each other for a few weeks before he came over to say hi. Now, they have solid trust and a good relationship. I honestly can't imagine them fighting at all now. It's quite comfortable. The last neighbour dog I had in my arms and Slop was really upset because of his instinct to protect me.
They have it figured out, we don't.
Singing to spiders,
Karen
"Little brave ones, have my praise...you are finer than a frog's hair split in four separate ways." ~Blackguard from 'Idiot Savant'
I have over 50 references to animals on 'Idiot Savant'. The main character Ian has a special bond with them and why wouldn't he? My own dog gets me more than most humans.
This Cardinal at my window seemed to be sending me a direct message. I investigated as to why she would be flapping at the glass like that. There was a nest above her covered in snow, but that belonged to the morning doves from the summer. I looked down below to see if another creature or baby was there...nothing. I went outside and looked to see if she had somewhere in the house she could previously enter and now couldn't...no idea. SO, I am leaving her to it.
As a child I brought home all sorts of half-dead animals in the hope of saving them. I haven't grown callous, but I have reached the point where I can be okay with this little feathered friend figuring it out. She isn't hurt, she was just excited or upset. The reason I have learned to let her figure it out is because as a human, I need to keep my distance from her. This mentality has evolved even in the last year.
I am not opposed to feeding animals if I think they need it. I do have a hummingbird feeder because I think people plant less flowers for nectar than they used to, but selfishly I just really like them. I don't put up seed-feeders because farm cats have a targeted area to kill birds then. I have thrown the odd nut to the squirrels but they live near walnut trees and corn fields so I hardly feel badly for them.
The biggest reason I leave them be is because I rent here, I don't own this house. I don't want to set a pattern where the animals rely on humans only to have me move away and have the next tenant lay out poison to try and get rid of them. Basically, I am trying to let nature be nature. For that reason, I almost shouldn't be putting out the hummingbird nectar...but I am not perfect. :)
I hear of people killing certain 'pests' on their property to bring up the population of other ones. As a nature lover, I try to let them all be because if I want country living, country living comes with country things. I deter ants with coffee grounds etc but my point to this blog is to emphasize not getting too close to them. I'll tell you why.
While we love when wild animals come over to us, the 'wild' that is in them is what saves them from being hurt while we sleep. A deer needs to know to run from trouble because they aren't a fighter. If we tame them too much, they become susceptible to being killed from being too trusting. Basically, if I feed them, hunters have an easy shot too.
As humans, we could learn something from this. We could learn to be curious and explore with some trepidation. There are all sorts of warning signs we ignore when entering dangerous relationships. I watched my pup Sloppy and the new neighbour dog eyeball each other for a few weeks before he came over to say hi. Now, they have solid trust and a good relationship. I honestly can't imagine them fighting at all now. It's quite comfortable. The last neighbour dog I had in my arms and Slop was really upset because of his instinct to protect me.
They have it figured out, we don't.
Singing to spiders,
Karen
"Little brave ones, have my praise...you are finer than a frog's hair split in four separate ways." ~Blackguard from 'Idiot Savant'
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