Sunday, June 28, 2015

The Wildness Around Us

A couple of weeks ago, it was a black bear in Worth Alley. A couple of days ago, it was buzzards in the cemetery.

Photo contributed
COPYRIGHT 2015 CAROLE OSTERINK

4 comments:

  1. I saw one of these fellows this afternoon looming large atop a dead tree by the side of route 66 towards Ghent--I couldn't believe my eyes!

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  2. "Buzzard" is an American term for vultures. The birds pictured here are Black Vultures.

    In Europe, the common name "buzzard" is reserved for Buteos such as our Red-tailed Hawk, Broad-winged Hawk, etc.

    Same word, different birds. Ain't it somethin'.

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  3. And we have taken over so much of wild land for development that the critters have had to be on the move. Deer ate my tomatoes off the plants in Hudson. and the beans from my neighbor's garden..Coyote in my backyard a week ago. I hear them often..I live in Claverack.

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    Replies
    1. For the species you mention, the only manner in which human development enters the equation is the opposite of our "taking over" their wild land.

      Deer, coyote, and to some extent bear, to name only a few, are opportunists. That's a very different problem than being crowded out.

      Nor is it always a problem. We wouldn't have dogs at all if it weren't for opportunistic, Pleistocene wolves.

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