Adaptation

While back along the creek, checking out the bee tree, I saw this mussel shell. Some humans eat these type of mussels, but we look for them to check on the health of the creek. Besides mussels, the creek has crawdads, numerous water bugs, small fish, but normally not big ones-- although it is a spawning stream for cutthroat trout. The small beings in the creek provide meals for the bigger beings who live along its banks.

In my imagination, I can see the raccoon that ate this mussel as it fished into the water, forced open the shell, and enjoyed its meal in this lovely setting. Nice of it to leave the shell so perfectly arranged for me to photograph.

Raccoons are very adaptable creatures for what they will eat. If it's your pet cat or an easily tipped garbage can, hey that's cool! Or one year we were having something come into the sheep barn and killing brand new lambs. It was quite peculiar as the skulls were peeled back. We called in a tracker to see if he could figure out the predator. Raccoon, he said, which surprised us a lot as who imagined a raccoon would do such a thing. After that, my husband kept his eyes open and one morning shot a big one up on the rafters obviously looking for its next meal. Its presence hadn't alerted the sheep to danger.

Next in my checking out things came looking up to ceiling of the new barn. We have a lot of barn swallows because of the old barn that we lost last year. They build mud nests that they use year after year. I assumed they would have moved their homes to the new barn and wasn't disappointed. To me these nests are beautiful, quite an engineering feat.

Swallows are inspiring when they fly but they are incredibly hard to photograph. With the telephoto, I zoom in as they zoom out. They try to dive bomb me to get me away from their homes. I always think it's kind of cute and assume they will miss my head even if it's by a few inches; but this time, I heard one kathunk into the side of the barn; so possibly they aren't quite as accurate as I presumed.

All bird nests are impressive but there is something special about barn swallow nests. They are a bit like an adobe house. Most likely these nests will be occupied year after year by the same families.

Every year we have Canadian geese that come to enjoy our pasture. In the past, they rarely slept here but eventually learned an adaption that is a step beyond instinct. When anything appeared threatening, they would move into the cow herd. Wise choice. The cows don't exactly take them for a calf but they are tolerant of their presence, and now the geese often spend the night.

Instincts tell wild things how to live, to survive, to teach their young what worked for them, but the world can be a changing place. Species which can adapt, that can adjust those instincts to new conditions, are the ones who will flourish.

As humans, I believe, it is important we don't lose touch with our instincts and our own ability to adapt. Too often, we convince ourselves we are immune to nature because of our advances. Then along comes a major shift, and we find we must learn new ways that work in a changing world.