One of my pet passions is habitat preservation. As a society we love it, as individuals we hate it. Sound silly? Listen up! It reminds me of building my house....

We searched to find a place close enough to the city, yet close enough to nature that afforded us the ability to observe the landscape and appreciate birds, deer and turkeys. This was to be our home, the place to rear a family by teaching sound values, and yes, to appreciate nature.

We found such a place. Oh, it wasn't perfect. It was in a development, near to the turnpike, less than a mile to the center of town and our lot size was only one half of an acre. We loved it!

Shortly after moving in, I noticed a fox romping through the snow on the vacant lot next door hunting small mice. He would dive head first into the snow shoving his head under, waiting, shaking, and moving on. After a while, I noticed the deer coming to feed on the fur trees at the back of our lot. The chickadees, hawks and finches were year round residents, while the Baltimore Oriels and Grosbeaks were literally snow birds that headed south when the going got tough.

While leaving for work one morning during the summer months, I had to stop traffic while a fifty year old snapping turtle made its way across the road. Our development had placed a road between the two ponds that the old turtle resided in. During the summer months the turtle spent it's time in the eastern pond. During the winter months the turtle would spend it's time in the western pond. Don't ask me why. But, I am sure the turtle had made this crossing for years.

After living in the development for a while, the abutting lot was built on. "Someone is building on the fox's hunting grounds, honey!" I exclaimed as the bulldozers pulled in. We saw the fox several times after that, but it eventually was pushed out of the neighborhood.

Then we received notice that the area behind us was being considered for a multi-family housing development. "How dare they!" I thought to myself, that is the deer's wintering ground. Someone should put a stop to this. The multi-family development was shot down and a single family house was put up instead.

The deer still frequent the area but with much less regularity than they used to.

From year to year, I occasionally would see the old turtle making its yearly trek from pond to pond and would always stop to make sure the inevitable wouldn't happen under my watch. I haven't seen that turtle in a while and fear the old boy was dealt a bad set of cards.

We all want our little slice of nature. We want to embrace it from the warmth of our living rooms, sheltered from the harsh environment that our fury and feathery friends must endure. Whenever some one wants to encroach on them, we are outraged. Well......that is if we already have our little piece of heaven tightly tucked in to our purse or wallet. I have mine and you better stay away from it!

I wonder how the fox felt when I put my house on his hunting grounds or how the finches felt as the bulldozers plowed under their favorite thistle? The other guy is always the bad guy.....how could it be me?

Follow along as I describe the ways our interactions with the landscape affects us all. You may be surprised by the subtle little things we all do that affect the animals around us!

E-mail this entry to a friend