Font of Knowledge
This week Michelle and I witnessed a miniature
gunfight at the OK Corral. Two male
hummingbirds played a game of chicken.
They faced each mid-flight, face to face, or perhaps beak to beak. They had flown in from different directions at
almost the exact same time and met near the feeder. They rose together slowly from about two feet
off the ground to about ten feet off they ground. Suddenly, they broke in different directions
again and disappeared from view. Last year,
just before they migrated we also witnessed a lot of chasing and posturing. While it seems slightly laughable for such
tiny creatures to try to intimidate each other, I also have to say that it’s a
little disappointing that such behavior obviously permeates all of
creation.
Last year I had done some online research in search of
an explanation of this aggressive autumn behavior. The research failed me. Every website I visited, including trusted,
scientific sites, only referred to aggressive chase behavior in male hummingbirds
as part of spring territorial skirmishes aligned with mating season. That fails to explain the behavior in
September when, instead of carving out territories, they will be migrating
south any day now.
I had a similar experience with barking
squirrels. Last week, in the afternoon,
a gray squirrel started a steady bark. It
seems to me that such calling is really something that happens about this time
of year. Again, online research all
pointed at such calling as a “warning” to other squirrels that danger is
afoot. I think that’s utter nonsense. I used to hunt squirrels regularly with my
friend Pete as a teenager. We used two
methods. The first required patience to
find a likely spot near some oak trees and wait. The other, method was to spread out about
fifty yards apart and slowly push through a hardwood woodlot. If we walked carefully and kept our eyes
ahead, we surprised many squirrels either feeding on the forest floor, or
moving from tree to tree. When they
spied us, they usually climbed the highest tree that they could and flattened
tight against the tree trunk. Whether they
were running on the ground, or climbing a tree, or even jumping from tree to
tree, I never once heard one “bark” a warning to other squirrels. In the squirrel woods, it is definitely every
squirrel for themselves.
Whether you are responsible for a nature website, or
you are just having a conversation, if you don’t know the answer, it’s best to
admit it. Otherwise, the person making
the inquiry may begin to doubt most of what you have to say.
The other night Michelle and I met with a group of deacons and their wives for our
monthly dinner get-together. Per the
request of the wives, men sit at one end of the table and the women sit on the
other. I must admit that when Michelle
and I compare notes on the way home each month, it is starkly obvious that the
things each gender discusses is very different.
This week one of our many topics on the male end of the table was a discussion
about jack knives. Of the six guys,
every one of us when we were young, carried a jack knife in our pocket every
day, even at school. You just never knew
when having a knife would come in handy.
Probably unbelievably to most these days, none of recalled any incident where
anyone got in trouble for inappropriate use of their knives. No knives had to confiscated. All of us, especially the teacher among us,
also agreed that you just couldn’t do that today. Something about responsibility, maturity, and
respect and trust has been lost. I’d try
to research the why on the internet, but I suspect that I wouldn’t be able to
fully trust the answer. What I need is a
wise old man. That seems to be what is
lacking these days. Then, I look at myself
in the mirror. I guess that is supposed
to be me. But I’m going to have to be honest
and say, “I just don’t know.”
His Peace <><
Deacon Dan
Photo by Chris Hardy on Unsplash
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