Pollinating flowers is a serious job. In fact, in places where pollinators have been killed off by environmental toxins, people are employed to do it. (That means a government might see it as an advantage to take a service nature does for free, and turn it into something people have to be paid to do.)
For this reason, the third week of June every year we have Pollinator Week. Its aim is promote and support pollinator abundance and diversity, in the interest of serving them better than we have (see environmental toxin above, but also, habitat loss!) – because Lord knows they serve us!
Do you hate mowing the lawn? Holy cow, I used to. We had a lawn that was half the size of a football field, and I spent many hours doing it. It’s not a hobby. And loads of gasoline spilled, actually. It kills the grass, but the grass comes back after a week or two.
When I first published this post (in June, 2017), a friend just turned me on to the Freakonomics podcast episode about America’s “stupid” obsession with lawns. It has a lot of different points of view and recommendations on what to do differently. Native species, alternative lawn care, and urban agriculture are some of the topics. Listen at the link.
If you prefer to read an article instead, there’s 2013’s Outgrowing the Traditional Grass Lawn on the Scientific American Blog Network. (Comment with any others you’ve found useful!)
If you’ve been looking up at the tops of the trees or watching neighbourhood feeders, you’ve noticed the flitting of birds newly arriving on their spring migration. If you’ve been walking around with open ears, you’ve heard the sweet musical call of the robins and almost-raucous regular trill of the red-winged blackbirds. Spring has arrived and it’s in full swing. And so we must hone our attention on our surroundings (not a hard task!)—while for some us, work begins.
Basically, if you find a bird that’s been injured by a window (or a passing vehicle), it’s stunned, and it needs your protection. And you’re a very frightening predator from its perspective, so you have to be careful to not get in its face while helping it!
Gently pick it up, such as by wrapping your hand around it from the top, with your palm against its back and its head peeking out between your index and middle finger. This can help immobilize its wings—struggle could hurt it further.
If you have to carry it any distance, ask a nearby store for a paper bag to put it in. Fold the top down and carry it as gently as if it contained an egg!
At your destination, fashion a donut (a twisted ring) out of bathroom paper towels, put the ring in a box, put the bird in the ring, and after assessing its state of alertness, close the box to give it some rest.
Call a bird or wildlife rehabber and inform them of the situation. They will advise you further. You may have to deliver the bird to them.
Read on for what to do about baby birds!
If, instead, you found a baby squirrel, go here. It has a flowchart questionnaire to help you do what you need to do to help the baby.
I was born on Groundhog Day. I therefore became inordinately fond of rodents.
Also, the 2nd falls after the first of every month, and many people (e.g. my mother) say “Rabbits rabbits rabbits” on the first. Apparently some say “White rabbit” (that’s Hervé!). It’s supposed to ensure good luck for the rest of the month. Here’s a personal essay about it (not mine, someone else’s). What I tend to do, besides say it, is catch my bunnies and cut their little claws.
But on the 2nd of February, we can say “Groundhogs, groundhogs, groundhogs.”
(Aside: our dog used to drag home dead groundhogs, probably killed by the neighbouring farmer or other people’s cars, and the carcasses would basically dessicate in the yard. What can I say, dogs love rolling around in smelly wild animal things.)
Despite that gross memory (hey, humans are gross), I just cannot. get. enough. cute animal pictures, and groundhogs are about as cute as you can get. They sit on rocks and look wise, like someone you’d ask advice from. They look like they’d be a good friend. I’ve had some come by the homestead and I’m always thrilled to see them!
Luckily a bunch of do-gooders with cushy jobs (friends, behold, this may be work, but marmots make it a cushy job) are out there breeding, and feeding, and releasing, and spying on these little whistle-pigs. They had 26 litters in the wild in 2013 (their biggest year to date), maybe 75-80 pups. That’s not counting the babies that were captive bred in the zoos, getting ready to be sprung on a needy world, I mean, ecosystem. There are dens and caverns just begging to be re-occupied. If we have a few more good years, their population might rebound!
Watch them on YouTube:
All that to say, I really want to become a marmot shepherd. But I hear it’s a pretty exclusive job, so I want to make sure that job is around (or else made successfully redundant) by the time I am eligible to do it. That’s why I want groundhog money for my birthday. <–Donate here!
The money is going to the Marmot Recovery Foundation (http://marmots.org/). Read all about these special beasties here, and gaze (gape) at the gorgeous photos. I want us to sponsor as many of these mommas and papas as we can.
This is a long-running “lifestyle” blog about the pleasures of living like a farm kid in an urban context. There’s a big focus on ecology and wildlife because this has brought me joy – and this is also the greatest potential we have of restoring some balance to nature where we live.
I write practical content for people to do little projects that basically make things beautiful, but also support climate readiness (energy efficiency, heat reduction, drought tolerance, flood prevention, and more). I’m a relentlless promoter of having a live-and-let-live attitude towards biodiversity.
Comments and questions are welcome! And if you’re anywhere near the Montreal region, you can also use my “Rewilding” service to landscape your property using native plants, convert to a green driveway, and prevent your windows from killing birds.
