They are not really our birds.  Among the creatures we share PB with, they are the most free.  Darting, soaring, fluttering through the air, they seem the most carefree of animals.  Perhaps that is part of the attraction for “birders.”  Back in Massachusetts, we lived ” out in the country.”  Dirt roads, fields and forests of many acres.  The birds did not come near the house, they didn’t need, or avail themselves of the support, if you will, of feeders, fountains, or bird houses.  They had all they needed without the benevolent human.  Maybe they don’t need it here, in our densely populated neighborhood, either.  Perhaps, our feeders, houses, baths are not really necessary here either, though we like to think they are.  However, I know we do provide some benefit here in PB, predator control.  Many is the time that we have chased the falcon out of the tree beside our feeders, many is the time we have chased the wicked neighborhood cats from the bushes beneath our window. I know we are not always successful, feathers and down are sometimes scattered about the yard.  But, I think our feeble efforts are sometimes successful in preventing an early demise for these youngsters.

Now, some may feel we are interferring in the ” natural order,” first by attracting the birds, then by attempting to protect them.  But the urban environment is not the same as the rolling hills and fields of the countryside, not the “natural order” as they might experience elsewhere.   Do the birds not belong here?    (I feel myself being drawn into the human/animal debate.).   I was born and raised in the Midwest and lived in the countryside of  New England.  I have lived in NYC, and other large cities.  I feel my personal experience of our varied environment is as large as most.  I  have a reverence for the creatures of the earth and see the value in protecting their existence.  I also see the value of our culture, as humans.  There is, it seems to me, a possibility of going too far in the “protection” of animals, to the detriment of ourselves.  So, a natural order problem for me, should I just let nature take its’ course and watch the natural predator (falcon), and the unnatural predator (pet cat)  eat the birds while I watch?

Conservation of our natural resources is a concept we ( born in the 40’s ), grew up with.  Forests, lumber, petroleum energy sources, open spaces, mineral and ore resources, animal and plant species, marine animals and fishes are all important.  Water, here in the southwest, including Arizona, Southern California, Nevada, is a precious commodity.  The Northeast, orthe Pacific Northwest,or the Atlantic coast , as examples, don’t have the pressure to conserve water that we do.  Our water is, to a large extent, imported, from the Sacramento and Colorado Rivers.  Melting mountain snow pack ( and rain), supplemented by ground water are the principal sources.  Efforts to get public acceptance of desalination and recycling of water are promising.  Perhaps, importation of water from farther north can supplement the supply.  (We seem to be pretty good at redistribution of income in this country, why not water. )   That, however, would not solve the smelt versus farmer controversy in the Sacramento Delta, but it would be less of a problem if SoCal were not so dependent on that source of water.

OK, I’ m getting pretty far from the birds in my front yard.  My very personal and limited conservation cause, at  present, is the safety of the sparrows, finches, and hummingbirds that are, for the most part, happily coexisting with the humans here on Beryl Street.  Our neighborhood email network is constantly bombarded by appeals to stop watering the landscape, to help find, feed, preserve cats, and pet exotic birds and turtles (captured and imprisoned), and to  worry about the American pit bull terriers that are walked on leashes on our sidewalks, etc.   We all have to draw some lines between our desire to conserve and our own desire to preserve human culture.  Pets, domesticated animals, and some wild animals, are commonly found in urban areas such as ours.   Not the natural order as I see it, but “it is what it is.”  One small dilemma after another, we all make our own compromises, large or small.

Oh well, might as well state my beef.  Keep your cats at home!  I am tired of watching for them in my little bird sanctuary, tired of cleaning up the poop they leave in my yard, and tired of being bombarded with entreaties to watch for or rescue a “lost cat.”   Amen.