The Oriole in the Coal Mine

Okanagan Okanogan

Trees are boundaries. They are creatures of the air, but are anchored to the soil. Most birds are like that, too. Many put their nests up in the sky, supported by trees. They even ride the wind. Many even use unnatural materials to weave their nests, as the orioles did when they wove the nest below.

To them, all materials are natural, even this invasive Chinese elm tree. Other than sheltering this pair of orioles, it really does very little else in the ecosystem. But what is this ecosystem? Why, a collection of insects that have managed to adapt to human landscaping, as these orioles have done, and a collection of fruits and flowers planted by humans for their own aesthetic enjoyment.

Cherry Tree Converted Into a Collection of Leaf-Sprouting Logs

(In back of the tortured juniper)

If humans did not go in for beauty big time, there would be no orioles now.

Apple…

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~ by Sable Aradia on January 15, 2015.