“The life I touch, for good or ill,
Will touch another life,
And that, in turn, another;
Who knows where the trembling stops,
Or in what far place, my touch will be felt.”
Frederick Buechner
When I was a very young child
My sage old grandmother told me
“Everything on Earth is connected,
It’s all a part of Creation, you’ll see.”
I’m sure that’s why I’m a nature lover
I’m sure that’s why I even admire bugs
And I’m sure that’s why it saddens me so
As we humans destroy life given with love
As I read the sad plight of our birds today
I learned a fascinating but terribly sad story
About one of Earth’s most endangered birds
And our grandchildren may never see its glory
The songbird in the picture above is a Jack Pine Warbler
And it once flourished, in the pine forests of the Midwest
For centuries it had wintered far from here in the Bahamas
And each Spring, it would return to the northwood, to nest
But its decline began a few centuries ago, out on our prairies
When we human beings began killing off all the native buffalo
A prairie bird called the Buffalo Bird would follow these herds
Dining on the insects that the buffalo stirred up while on the go
When the centuries old buffalo herds were killed off, by us
These tenacious little cowbirds began expanding, to the east
But because of the buffalo, they lay eggs in other birds’ nests
Which saved them a lot of time, while following bison to feast
So, very sadly today, these cowbirds now like to take over
The nests of these tiny Jack Pine Warblers, and they still thrive
But for every nest now taken over, less of these warblers now live
And we now also have less pine forest, for these warblers to survive
The brown headed cowbird, once called the ‘buffalo bird,’ was common in the open plains of America for centuries. They followed the vast herds of American bison, eating the insects that swarmed around the hoofs of the grazing herds. But unable to move with the wandering buffalo while maintaining a nest, these birds developed an unusual behavior; they began to lay their eggs in the nests of other birds. The cowbird chicks, which hatch earlier than most other birds, are more aggressive and will out-compete their nest mates for food. This added competition reduces the number of non-cowbird young that survive.
And studies have now revealed that when one cowbird egg is laid in a jack pine warbler nest, only one to three warbler chicks may live. If two cowbird eggs are laid and hatched in a warbler's nest, none of the warbler chicks survive.
Heavy cowbird parasitism and loss of forest habitat are now believed to be the major factors in the rapid decline of the tiny jack pine warbler today – one of North America’s most endangered songbirds. And yet another of Earth’s magnificent beings that our grandchildren will probably never get to see.
When I was a very young child,
My sage old grandmother told me;
“Everything on Earth is connected,
It’s all a part of Creation, you’ll see.”
And the more I learn,
The more I sadly see.
©2009, Mr. Ed
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Thanks for all the great info,pee wee Ed, you are so good, Bro!;-)
Love,
tiger lily
Be always safe,
Karen
fee
Love Tinka
and if we don't wake up to that, our touch will be felt!
Thanks for all you do for us, Ed.
All of earths creatures are one in some way,
Just as herein you did quite well and always do display...Ed
Sourse: Rain forests.org
~W~
"What goes around, comes arouind ..."
"We reap what we sow ..."
I just posted N Words - a little different perspective of Nature therein.
an old song "Primose Lane" had beautiful lyrics - but our so-called 'leaders' have not chosen the Primrose Lane - instead, the Brimstone Path of Destruction and Chaos is where they have lead us!
Watched the old movie "NETWORK" last night - every American should rush out and get it to remind themselves of THE POWER OF THE PEOPLE!
TOM. will post separate review shortly.
Is gold that important? and when they have all the gold and a barren planet, then what?
Georg
With Love,
Cindy
(((HUGS))) and much love, your friend in Tx., Karen Lynn. :D
Much peace, love, and light,
Amber "V"
God Bless,
Lew