I Heart Marbled Murrelets

Conservationists work hard trying to answer really big questions, such as why birds matter. I have read many answers and tried to formulate one of my own, about why the marbled murrelet matters. But the answers and explanations always seem to come up short. Why is this? Why can we not succinctly and successfully express in words why birds matter? Because our answers are actually to the question, "why do birds matter to me?"

I may have found an explanation of this problem in a book published in 1960--The Forest and the Sea, by Marston Bates (1906-1974), an eminent zoologist, mosquito authority, and professor at University of Michigan

Though the science is a bit outdated, Marston Bates' tackling of the big questions isn't. In the first few pages, he writes of his frustration with a question he no doubt was asked frequently about mosquitoes, "What good is it?"

"I have never learned how to deal with this question. I am left appalled by the point of view that makes it possible...The question is left over from the Middle Ages; from a small, cozy universe in which everything had a purpose in relation to man. The question comes down form the days before Copernicus' theories removed the earth from the center of the solar system, before Newton provided a mechanism for the movements of the starts, before Hutton discovered the immensity of past time, before Darwin's ideas put man into perspective with the rest of the living world.

"Faced with astronomical space and geological time, faced with the immense diversity of living forms, how can who ask one particular kind of butterfly, 'What good is it?'"

"Often my reaction is to ask in turn, 'What good are you?'"

Which is essentially  the same as Why do you matter?

Which is a really big question, which does not have an answer.

But here we are, with each other, with the marbled murrelets, with all the mysteries of the natural world. While understanding each living thing matters ecologically, it does not really matter existentially. What matters is that we--the living things with the capacity to understand, protect, restore, and love other living things--use these gifts daily.

The Call of the Marbled Murrelet

Click below to listen to the calls of the Marbled Murrelet (Brachyramphus marmoratus). You will here the classic "keer" call as well as the murrelet's impersonation of a duck playing a kazoo (that's what I call it). There are also a few squawks of Steller's jays toward the end of the recording. (Note: at about 1'20" the calls repeat until the end of the recording).

This is a good time of year to start learning the calls of this unusual seabird before it moves closer to our Pacific Coast shores...and then into the mature and old-growth coastal coniferous forests to nest. If you are hiking in these forests, you are likely to hear Marbled Murrelets before you see them. They are fast-flying, camouflaged, and active in the early morning, around dawn when they fly to and from the ocean to their nesting branch high up (and out of sight) in the trees.

Help Feed Marbled Murrelets!

If you live in Washington State, please click here to support Senate Bill 6072 to support critically needed research on forage-fish populations in Washington State.

One of the critical information gaps in monitoring the Puget Sound’s ecosystem is in forage fish ecology and contribution. This important bill will help fund studies of populations of the small, foraging fish known as "forage fish," which includes sardines, anchovies, mackerel, herring, smelt, and others. These small fish are a critically link in our ocean food webs--webs that include the threatened marbled murrelet whose diet is based on these small fish.

Senate Bill 6072, sponsored by Senator Christine Rolfes, has passed through the Senate Committee on Natural Resources & Parks, and currently sits in the Rules Committee.

 It needs nudging now from citizens like you!

The bill would provide valuable insight into a crucial part of the ecosystem that is often overlooked. It would deliver important current information to decision makers  with up-to-date status of all forage fish. It would provide an important contribution to the science necessary to monitor healthy levels of fish and to restore the Puget Sound ecosystem to full health.

UPDATE: On February 25, this bill was placed on the Senate 'X files." This means that the bill will go no further in the process the current legislative session. We will have to wait until next year to see if the bill gets pushed out of the Senate.

Your To-Do List

Inaction of Shoes

by Ron Padgett (and posted on The Writer's Almanac)

There are many things to be done today
and it's a lovely day to do them in

Each thing a joy to do
and a joy to have done

I can tell because of the calm I feel
when I think about doing them

I can almost hear them say to me
Thank you for doing us

And when evening comes
I'll remove my shoes and place them on the floor

And think how good they look
sitting?... standing?... there

Not doing anything

"Inaction of Shoes" by Ron Padgett, from Collected Poems. © Coffee House Press, 2013.