Birds are people too

Smart Guy sent me this picture of this adorable (and possibly fully grown) intense little owl. Look at those claws! My last blog post has stirred up quite a bit of controversy, which seems to come about every time I consider what it means to feed the birds. The title of this post comes from a conversation I had with my neighbor, whose daughter recently learned that our resident Cooper's Hawk eats songbirds. She was horrified and said, "But birds are people, too!" (I fear she had to learn that hawks are birds, too!)

I also received a very exciting email from Cory Anderson, who wrote a book about Jean Keane. He was a close personal friend of hers for two decades, and that book (available on his website and now in its sixth printing) about "the Eagle Lady" looks absolutely fascinating. I will let you know what I think of the book once I receive it, as I believe it is now on its way. The description makes me want to know more about Jean, for one thing, and what happened to the eagles this past winter, the first since Jean's death.

I went over to Abe Lincoln's birds blog (which I follow) to read his story about the dancing cowbird. This is when I realized that there is more controversy than I realized about whether or not it is okay to feed the birds. I get so much pleasure from watching my birdies, and I have become reconciled to the cycle of Nature that teaches me to accept the fact that the big guys eat the small guys.

There needs to be a balance. We humans have displaced so many wild creatures because of our exploding population numbers, our constant crowding out of wilderness and natural habitats, that I believe the eccentric old people (maybe some not so old) among us who feed the birds, within reason, are part of the cycle itself. Am I wrong about this?
:-}