footprints in the snow

footprints around bird food

chaffinch looking in

chaffinch checking me out

OK, where’s the food

The snow is melting fast outside now, there’s only a few piles of mush left on the terrace. The last snowfall here was almost a week ago, and that was a scant few flakes, just enough to cover the ground thinly.

It may have been a light snowfall, but it was enough to show me that little feet had been walking around just outside before I got up that morning.

It’s not just one or two footprints either, there seems to have been quite a gathering around the food. I hope nobody got trampled in the crush!

We have bird-food on our garden wall, but in the coldest weather the robins were getting very territorial about it, spending more time fighting than eating. That’s why we put more food near our patio doors, far away from the wall. This kept the robins far enough apart that they actually found time to eat instead of fight.

The food near our patio doors is quite popular, despite being close to the house. It’s interesting to see how different birds approach it. Sparrows just come right up and start munching. They spend a lot of time in our eaves, so they’re well accustomed to us and our comings and goings, and show no fear. Other birds are more cautious, such as this chaffinch.

This is the only chaffinch I’ve seen visiting our garden so far, though we see many on our morning walks. This one did what many other birds have done, he landed a little further out and took a good look before coming closer.

He’s clearly spotted me, and that sideways look is him measuring me up, deciding if I’m going to make trouble for him or not. Eventually, it seems he decides I’m not a threat, and he turns his attention to more important things, the food!

Blue-tits and great-tits show a similar caution. They land nearby, take a good look round, then hop up to the food, take something (typically a peanut) and fly off to deal with it somewhere else. They seem to get more comfortable with time, the first visits were rather cautious, and sometimes they would fly off without feeding. Now they are more at ease, and will even continue to feed if we go out on the terrace.

Robins will sit by the food for a long time, as if they’re staking a claim to it. Even in the coldest of the recent weather they would sit there, guarding the food. They don’t often chase off sparrows or tits, but if another robin appears within a few feet, it’s instant action. Those birds have attitude!

Now that the local birds have become accustomed to us, we see a steady stream of them. Yesterday and today we saw a willow tit, one that I’ve never seen before. It seems word is getting around that there’s a new place to eat for the birds, and we’re glad of it. Fortunately, lots of people feed the birds around here, so winter is not as difficult for them as it could otherwise be. I’m glad of that.

(Possibly) related posts:

1. Bird feeders
2. Avatar: What do you see?
3. Gardening over for the year…?
4. Snow in the Jura
5. Rescuing birds

Neytiri, a Na’vi from Pandora

baby pigeons in flower pot

grebes on lac leman

fungus on tree

hummingbird hawk moth

seagulls on lac leman

blue flowers

sparrows drinking

view over coral reef

sunflower in full bloom

frog

Roesel’s bush cricket (Metrioptera roeselii)

trichodes nuttalli on thistle

orange butterfly

hawk circling

James Camerons’ new science-fantasy film, ‘Avatar’, starring Sigourney Weaver, is doing the rounds at the box office in Geneva. I saw it recently, and I have to say, it’s an amazing film. See it in 3D if you can, it’s worth it.

Without giving away too much of the story, I can tell you that it’s set in the future where humans travel to a planet called ‘Pandora’ to mine a valuable mineral from under the feet of the indigenous natives. The natives don’t want to give up their lands, of course. The humans attack them with the usual military hardware, and the natives fight back with bows and arrows. Nothing particularly new there, the plot has a familiar ring to it.

Nonetheless, Avatar stands out from the crowd. James Cameron is not known for thinking small, and the visual effects are quite stunning. The landscapes are exquisite, and the plants and animals are beautiful. Bio-luminescent plants glow underfoot where people walk at night. The whole thing is put together superbly, with a great deal of attention to detail.

The natives (“Na’vi”) are tall and elegant, and more than a little elfin in appearance. They live in harmony with their world, respectful of the living things they share it with. Taking no more than they need to survive, they deplore the humans’ lack of balance with nature. When the tribal-chief’s daughter rescues one of the humans from a sticky situation (I told you the plot was familiar), she chastises him, telling him “you do not see”. Like so many of us, he considers himself to be separate from the web of life around him, not a part of it, so he is blind to the real beauty of it all.

It seems that message has struck a chord with many of us, and some people get depressed after seeing Avatar. They envy the Na’vi their lifestyle, and are not happy to think that they can never live that way, nor live in such a beautiful place as Pandora.

I guess I can understand that, but I don’t agree with it. The Pandora that James Cameron has created is indeed very beautiful, and the Na’vi have a great way of life. Sure, they occasionally have to dodge things with teeth the size of their heads, but apart from that, they seem to have it made. But while Pandora might be a nice place to visit, I don’t think I would want to live there. Planet Earth is my home, and I’m happy here.

It’s true that most of us cannot claim to live in harmony with nature. Probably only a few of us would want to go as far as the Na’vi, but we can probably do better than we do today. All we need to do is to go out there and start looking around, the natural world is just waiting to be found.

You don’t have to go on safari either, nor to a tropical island. You can go to your nearest beach, lake, river or woodland, and take a good look around you. You can go down to the bottom of your garden, or to the nearest park. Nature is at home in all sorts of places.

I’ve seen blue-tits working hard to bring food to their young in the nest they built in the shutters of my apartment window. I’ve even been lucky enough to see one of those chicks make its’ first flight, leaving the nest. I’ve seen baby birds clambering to hitch a ride on their mothers’ back, rather than expend the effort to swim alongside her. I’ve seen a pigeon raise a family in an empty flower-pot on my balcony. I’ve seen all sorts of pretty insects – caterpillars, butterflies, crickets, bees and beetles – in the plants I’ve grown on my terrace. Nothing unique or exotic, but all beautiful just the same.

It’s not just birds or insects either. I’ve had squirrels come up to me in Hyde Park, looking to see what I had in my hand. I’ve seen a hedgehog on my terrace, and frogs in my Mums’ garden. There are deer and foxes in the Jura that we sometimes see on our walks, or even from the comfort of our home. After a fresh fall of snow the sheer number of animal tracks has to be seen to be believed, there’s so many of them. We saw a weasel not long ago, and I’ve seen chamois and marmots in the Alps.

I’m no expert at finding these animals, I just go out and look. I don’t see them every day, but that makes it all the more precious when I do.

If you live in the concrete jungle and don’t have any countryside within reach, try visiting your nearest park. If there’s grass, trees, and flowers then there will be birds, bees, and other insects. Take some bird-seed and you might be able to tempt the birds to come close to you. Give them time to get used to you and they may even perch on your hand. Come evening, you may be lucky enough to see bats flying around too. If there’s a pond then there may be frogs or dragonflies hidden among the reeds.

If you don’t have time to go somewhere, you can put a birdfeeder in your garden, on your balcony, or just mounted on the wall outside your window. Birds will find it, and you can enjoy them from the comfort of your own home. You can really see their characters emerging when you see how they behave around a feeder, it’s fun to watch.

If you’re not sure where to start looking, there are plenty of good sources of information. Your local library or tourist office can tell you about nature-groups, natural attractions, or forthcoming nature-related events in your area. If you know someone more experienced, ask them to show you where to look. There are several good TV programmes too, such as Springwatch in the UK. Or you could search the web for nature-bloggers in your neck of the woods, and ask them a few questions. They’ll be sure to help you if they can.

I’ve not seen anything as big or colourful as the creatures that the Na’vi encounter on Pandora, but fair’s fair, I’ve not met anything that tried to eat me, either. If you take the time to go looking for it, nature is never far away. Go take a look, you’ll see.

(Possibly) related posts:

1. Green Gardening
2. Sigourney Weaver, Ocean Acidification, Avatar, and the Belo Monte dam
3. A Walk to Divonne
4. Garden visitors
5. What do you see in my blog?