ONE OF NATURE’S LITTLE DRAMAS WE HAVE NO TIME FOR

ONE OF NATURE’S LITTLE DRAMAS WE HAVE NO TIME FOR

This morning, oh about 7:30 am, I was on my way to the morning market when I heard a “murder” of crows, chattering and cawing away up in the trees across the street. Now, crows are not unusual here in Midtown at all, and I find them cheery, funny birds to have around. I looked up, expecting to see some sort of “crow antics,” always entertaining, but that is not what I saw. I looked up and there was a large, beautiful red-tailed hawk sitting atop a pine tree, with a dozen or so crows diving at him, all the while cawing frantically. I stood there for a few minutes watching this little drama of nature; the hawk sitting there in the treetop, unperturbed by the angry crows. Eventually he shook himself, fluffed his feathers and then took off casually to the south, the crows in hot pursuit.

 I noticed, as I stood there watching, that no one else passing by looked up. No one took notice of what was going on above the street as they walked here and there to whatever destination required their presence immediately. Some were absorbed in their smart phones, oblivious to all around them, and those that were not so engaged, still seemed unmindful to the spectacle.

Then I thought that this was perhaps not so remarkable any longer to anyone but me. We have intruded into and destroyed the habitats of some many creatures in the last thirty years — where else have we left them to go but into the urban environment. I remembered that there had been a time, when I was much younger, when we became aware that our expansion outward from urban centers, with the explosion of the suburbs destroying the wild lands; that to have one’s own expensive though cheaply made home was central to the so called “American Dream,” We also knew then that we could make a collective choice to restrain our careless expansion, intrusion, and destruction; but as a society, we largely chose to either ignore that choice or to act only in our own immediate interests.

True, peregrines for example, nest and hunt even in the big cities like New York or San Francisco, but also the coyote, the bobcat, the mountain lion, and even the bear now intrude into our towns and cities — where else can they go when we have pressed them so hard and taken away their homes.

I was just thinking these things as I watched the crows on my way to the morning market.