WILD THINGS COME to THIS PLACE...

"In all things of nature there is something of the marvelous.." - Aristotle

Every day something wild comes through the back yard. The Cooper's Hawks are the loudest. They screech. They call to each other. Then swoop to bring down prey. In midair.  Then silence.

Meanwhile, baby bandits tumble into the basins of water I leave out. They splash and tussle, before mom heads them off into the cedars above the fence. They watch  from there, making lovely sounds: Chirrrr Chirrr, hmmmm hmmmm  as they watch the hawks, who aren't interested in them.

"How strange that nature does not knock, and yet does not intrude..." 

                                                                                                                       - Emily Dickinson

Every morning and every night the Cooper's Hawks talk to each other. Then hunt. Suddenly and Swiftly, getting up to speeds of 64 kilometers an hour. Yellow talons grab smaller birds like doves, grackles, songbirds, just above the trees. Silence again. Except for the buzzing lull of bumblebees hovering over the Cape Fuchsia.

"It was the humblebee who survived, not the dinosaur..." -Meridel Le Sueur

Meanwhile, the baby bandits roll around  in the cedar tops. They make chirring sounds. Their little masks peeking out . Chirrr Chirrr Mmmm Mmmmmmm....

"Each species is a masterpiece, a creation assembled with extreme care and genius..." - Edward O. Wilson

Nom Nom, our resident deer, lumbers into the yard, stuffing himself as he trundles along. Ivy, geraniums, nettles are his favourite. He stops to deposit his dark offerings of jelly beans; plop,plop, plop. He sees the hawks. They see him. What a magnificent meal he would make......but he's too big.

Nom Nom drops more jelly beans and saunters off to snooze on the  hill under the cedars. The baby raccoons stare at Nom Nom, who proceeds to snore. Chirrr Chirrr hmmm hmmmmm...

The size of a raven, or a fat chicken, Cooper's Hawks dominate the roofs. They're not too concerned over fat deer or roly poly raccoons. This week they have pigeons and doves in their sights...

"Only in silence the word, only in dark the light, only in dying life: bright the hawk's flight on empty sky..." - Ursula K. LeGuin

Most afternoons, two younger bucks,   "Town deer",( like Nom Nom), have their siesta in the blueberry patch, their velvet horns high above the patch. They've squashed all of the veggie plants. (Deer have the only living and growing tissue that becomes antlers. Only Chinese water deer don't have antlers. )

 On these summer days, the  bees hum. The baby bandits with their little masks have scurried off. The deer doze, while hawks rest on housetops. Silence again.

"The silence holds with its gloved hand the wild hawk of the mind..." 

                                                                           -R.S. Thomas            

                                              

Wild things live here. They were here first. It's their place. I'm just a caretaker................Wild things come to this place...

"I think wildlife is just like a magnet, and it's something I can't help..." 

                                                  -Steve Irwin ( the Crocodile Hunter)

Photographs 2025