By Juan Montoya
If you have been outside these past few days, you are probably aware of the large number of birds in our area.
The recent rains not only increased the amount of food available, but joining the the local mockingbirds and black birds (ahurracas) are now a sizable number of northern birds on the way south.
To add color to the scene, thousands of beautiful butterflies have also descended upon us on their way to their breeding sites in central Mexico.
This profusion of wildlife makes this area one of the most beautiful places in which to live. But it also makes us realize that as communities along the flyways of these living organisms, we also have a responsibility to make sure we don't destroy habitat that will keep them coming here annually.
I remember the prints in old magazines of passenger pigeons when they would migrate by the millions across the northeast and Midwest. Hunters in every community along the routes would arm themselves with rifles and try to shoot as many of these beautiful birds out of the sky as they could. They thought they would never end. People would kill thousands as the birds flew overhead and darkened the sky they were so thick.
Now the passenger pigeon is extinct and we are the worse for the loss. Our kids will only read about them in history books or see them stuffed in a museum.
Brownsville went though a similar process with housing developments around the resacas. Thanks to far-sighted luminaries like Alton Gloor, the resaca banks were literally denuded of vegetative cover to make the properties attractive to homebuyers. Along the way, the habitat for many local species was destroyed. And who knows what plant species that grew along the banks of these resacas were plowed under by Gloor's bulldozers?
In the United States, by 1900 there were no more passenger pigeons, and almost no more buffalo. Most of the big trees – the oaks and chestnuts that had nuts people could eat – had been cut down for firewood or to build houses and fences, or just to clear the land for farmers' fields. Most of the streams had no more fish in them. There were almost no wolves.
The country has matured since then and now we are making efforts to educate ourselves and our next generations to respect and protect these living organisms. Next time you are near an ebony tree stop for a moment and look at the profusion of life going on under its thorny canopy.
Lizards, birds, bugs and worms share its leaves and branches, and even its pods. To wantonly cut down one of these trees is to destroy everything that lives in it.
Brownsville's walking trail has a neat exhibit of our migratory friends between the Events Center and the tennis courts. As hikers rest, they can learn about the migratory and local birds that they see flying around.
Bird enthusiasts say the Rio Grande Valley ranks as the first or second destination of "birders" in the nation. Close to 500 species of birds have been spotted in the area. Its diversity of bird species has lured visitors to the annual bird festival in Harlingen from 40 states and from around the world.
We'll be hosts to these "snowbirds" and our feathered friends as winter lashes the northern part of the country. Let's try to be good stewards of this river delta so that they will be able to return again next year.
1 comment:
Well put. I grew up in the Adirondak Area in Northern New York. Fottunately, the early owner Paul Smith determined to make it a State Park and required that it remain forever wild with no buildings over a certain height, ect. To this day the Adirondak State Park which encompasses most of North New York to the Border is still a beautiful forrest, mountains and lakes with Lake Placid right in the middle. The wildlife and native fish are still plentiful. Thanks to the forsight.....
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