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REDSTONE • REVIEW
APRIL 13 / MAY 18, 2022
CORNERSTONE Feeding the birds: good for them, good for us By Greg Lowell Redstone Review LYONS – I’ve always put out bird feeders in the winter – a habit I acquired from my mom. She’d hang feeders and as a child I’d watch the parade of nature from my window: flocks of yellow grosbeaks, woodpeckLowell ers drawn to the suet and the occasional hawk taking hapless starlings. This nature-at-my-doorstep started my outdoors passion, and I’ve pondered at times who benefits more from bird-feeding, the birds or us? A recent study by the Wild Bird Feeding Institute Research Foundation (its very name says something about the pastime’s popularity) found almost 50 million households in the U.S. and Canada buy wild birdseed each year. This mammoth undertaking raises questions about the effect that hundreds of millions of pounds of seed has on the birds – is it beneficial or it is creating an artificial environment that compromises their natural instincts? Boon or bane The answers, it turns out, aren’t obvious. Considering the hundreds of species of birds and their distinct niches and habits, there are just too many variables. Severe or mild winters, boom or bust cycles of natural food sources and manmade influences like habitat loss all make any studies of the effect of artificial feeding inconclusive. But some facts are known. It’s obvious, and studies have shown, that winter feeding of birds can help with the survival of certain species. When winter storms roll in, snow blankets natural food sources and subzero nights burn up calories, a well-stocked feeder or suet block goes a long way to helping birds survive these hard times. The flip side is: does feeding favor one species over another? When spring rolls around and there’s competition for nesting sites, is it wise to have helped aggressive house finches fattened on sunflower dominant over another
you or your neighbors allow your cats outside, it’s probably best not to feed the birds and thereby set an avian smorgasbord for Tabby. bird species? In some cases, forcing birds to feed together at common Can birds, once habituated to artificial feeding, otherwise places can lead to increased disease transfer. But realistisurvive if that feeding is stopped? Dr. Emma Greig of the cally, in the wild birds often feed in groups, including Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology said, “Birds have an as- mixed-species flocks. To minimize the spread of disease sortment of places they can check for food in their winter feeders should be cleaned regularly, particularly of any habitat and if one source disappears, they have others that feces buildup. they can rely on.” Of course, with 50 million households Natural connection in comfort putting out bird banquets, they can also just move on to the Short of strapping on binoculars and trudging out into next feeder. Despite Dr. Grieg’s reassurance, it’s probably the cold, there’s no better way to connect with the natural world than from the warm comfort of your home. The sheer number and variety of birds drawn to handouts is far greater than what a birdwatcher might normally see on a winter field trip. Feeding birds offers a connection to nature through the investment of a feeder and a 20-lb. bag of sunflower seeds. People learn to identify birds and their habits. When the feeders and trees in the yard are crowded with birds, there’s a personal sense of caretaking and responsibility – a positive interaction with the natural world. And with that often comes a greater advocacy for the environment. The writer Jonathan Franzen said in a recent National Geographic article that “Birds are good for the soul,” and I have to agree with him. The birds benefit from our largesse and we run for the Sibley guide when an unfamiliar bird shows up. It’s a A female and male house finch dine at a local bird feeder. unique symbiotic relationship not often experiPHOTO BY ROLF REISER enced in our everyday dealings with nature. Postscript: The local bears have awakened from best to keep those feeders full once you start. their winter slumber, and it’s best to take in your bird feedFeeders can also attract natural predators like the bird- ers at the beginning of April. Next to unsecured garbage, snacking Cooper’s hawks, but they’re birds, too, and who there’s nothing a hungry bear likes better than feeders of doesn’t enjoy seeing some nature – red of tooth and claw high-protein sunflower and other seeds. – close up and personal? Unnatural predators, on the other hand, like freeLyons resident Greg Lowell is a Lyons Town Board Trustee roaming housecats, are also attracted to feeders. Should and serves as a liaison to the Ecology Advisory Board.
Wordle is taking over the country: GUESS – WORDS – QUICK By Peter Butler Redstone Review LYONS – Just when it seemed that there are a million ways to wheedle away the day, a new threat to time management has arrived. We have a new start to the morning. In the old days it would be, get Butler dressed, make coffee, take the dog out, open up the chicken coop. But now there is a new element. You wander about, holding deep thoughts in your head before announcing to the surrounding countryside, “Today I’m going to start with OPIUM.” No, I’m not planning to fire up the hookah, but I’ve got my first guess for Wordle. A few moments later I might proclaim to the adjacent shrubbery that I’m going to start with “OPIUM – DELAY” even though it sounds like cold turkey. Moments later, the dog has finished and we go inside and I log on. OPIUM – DELAY – CAUSE – SAUTE Hmm – very bizarre cookery. The word “Splendid” dances around the screen even though it doesn’t realize that this French word has an E acute at the end. If you haven’t gotten sucked into it yet maybe you’ve been on a hermit cave retreat or crewing the International Space Station because it seems like the rest of the planet is doing it. One new word every day and six chances to guess what it is. It is so naive that it seems like something from the 1950s rather than the latest hot thing in our Brave New Metaverse of Tiktok and fluorescent dancing parrots. Go to the web page and a simple matrix of five squares wide by six lines deep awaits you. At the bottom of the page is a rendering of a typewriter keyboard. Get a letter correct and it glows yellow. Guess the correct member of the alphabet and it glows yellow, but if you nail its position as well it renders itself bright green. I like to test all the vowels and that “almost vowel” Y in the first two tries. Something like PIOUS – RELAY. So what is the difference between Wordle and those Sudokus that drain your entire life down the plughole of solitary endeavor? I’m not saying that I do it, but I’ve got a friend who can lose an entire hour or more trying to finish a “Hard” in less than six minutes. The eyes go blurry as they race round 81 squares filling
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numbers. Six minutes 34 seconds. I can beat that. Again. Now you get stuck with 23 numbers to go and you are slower. Game after game slides past, as your mind rehearses its denial that you are fending off Alzheimer’s by making your brain work. The beauty of Wordle is that you only get one game per day. The first time you experience this, there is a moment of bewilderment. But I deserve another game – surely?
Stuff is now so readily available (no I’m not talking about you, Russia) and so relatively cheap in historical terms that it is almost too easy to spoil yourself. Maybe you have self control and can convince yourself not to buy that new camera until you’ve learned Photoshop. But then you lapse and get it anyway. Credit cards are your accomplice in this flabby lack of discipline. I remember, years ago, the best day of the year was when a local beekeeper would call and reveal that she had just harvested the first honeycomb of the season. Fire up the toaster – I’m drowning in my own saliva. HAPPY – PHONE – MAKES – SWEET But now here comes something that doesn’t play by the rules. Jones for it all you like, but that cloud computer on Amazon Web Services will not respond to your pitiful bleating. You’ll have to wait until tomorrow. Maybe I’m an addict but I think I enjoy waking up in the morning more than I did previously. The sun has just risen over Steamboat Mountain and the air is fresh and crisp. Is that the first dandelion? It’s got to be LEMON – DAISY. Peter Butler was born in India and lived in a house facing a giant kapok tree. Growing up in England there were trees but never quite enough. After qualifying as biochemist there was a gradual evolution into being a graphic designer. He and his wife Deirdre moved to the States in 1997 and to Lyons in 2000.
WORDLE ART BY PETER BUTLER
Living in the western world has deprived us of true luxury. It is easy to think that a deluxe item is something covered in gold plate or hand-stitched leather: a swanky car, a Madagascar limestone counter top, designer clothes, or a fancy watch. But maybe true luxury is the arrival of something in your life that you have been craving. The longer the longing, the sweeter the tasting.
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