January 18, 2020
Why Birds Are So Important to Our Environment
By Cindy Maxey-Droege
Jonathan Franzen stated, “It’s not just what birds do for the environment—it’s what they do for our souls.” Anyone who has taken biology understands the importance of healthy ecosystems, and birds happen to play a huge role as both the “canary” in the mine and as pollinators and seed spreaders. We are reminded almost daily of the decline of songbirds due to habitat loss, predation of feral cats, and poison, and we often forget the beneficial role birds play in helping spread seeds that grow into beautiful flowers along our roadways and parks.
Backyard birding doesn’t literally have to take place in your own yard, but also taking time to explore the parks and trails in your hometown can lead you to many a song along the forest edge.
If we expand the idea of environment beyond just the physicality of space and consider our own place among creation, we can begin to appreciate just how much birds have been part of storytelling and art from the dawn of age. Teaching Homer, I can count numerous times birds are mentioned, and how birds are etched on many ancient city walls, pyramids, castles, and cathedrals. It has been birds that have inspired thousands of artists around the world. Their beauty and their song seem to touch us in a way that is unique, thoughtful, and calming.
I remember a rare moment kayaking the White River in Michigan. It was early fall and the trees were beginning to turn. The area was so remote that as I paddled along the very still waters the only sound heard was the water that gently dripped from my paddle. I had never heard such a quiet in nature. Rounding a bend, along the river, there nestled next to the shoreline, was a migrating group of cedar waxwings singing in the bushes. I found myself so moved by the beauty of these birds, how close my kayak would slide by them, and the song that filled me with pure joy. We need moments like this to remind us of the joy and beauty our environment gives to us freely.
Our wild birds are one of the longest living creatures still here with us, and who hasn’t, for a moment, envied their ability to fly along the airstreams above and soar along canyon walls and mountain tops. That spark of imagination through flight, the joy of a bird singing, and the creativity that inspires art has always been part of human history as we have lived in relationship with birds.
Our songbirds need our attention. Expand your backyard and take a hike on one of the multiple trails in and around Lee’s Summit, put up a bird feeder and bath, grab a camera, binoculars and a bird book and explore the beauty of our North American birds. Keep your eyes to the skies!
Cindy Maxey-Droege, a Lee’s Summit resident, college professor, and part of Maxey-Droege Imaging team with Karen Maxey-Droege. To purchase photographs, visit www.maxey-droege.studio.
