The magic of Black Sox

Despite its wet, raw coolness, this spring has provided some joyful observation.

Blue jays, in their sartorial splendour, gorge greedily on seed we have spread on the ground. There are as many as 18 of them throating seeds almost non-stop, pausing occasionally to shoo away chipmunks that are racing about crazily, trying to get their share.

At a suet cage swinging above this feeding frenzy, a remarkable sight. A rosy-breasted grosbeak and its mate peck at the tallow needed to warm and energize them in this prolonged chilly spring.

It has been years since we have seen any type of grosbeak, once a common sight at our lake place.

Just as exciting, a flock of sunshine yellow finches descends on the Niger seed feeder. They are another touch of beauty that we have not seen in a while.

The Jays, grosbeaks, finches and two red spotted wood peckers lift spirits dampened by  sullen grey skies.

But then a doleful face appears at the clearing’s edge, threatening to chase off the colour and cheer. The face looks familiar, but it is not until he steps fully into the clearing that I recognize him.

It is Black Sox, the wily red fox who visits every spring. At least I think it is him, although it could be one of his progeny, or even a totally different fox.

I am convinced it is Black Sox, however, when I see his front legs, which are rich black from shoulders to feet. All red foxes have black on their legs but none I have seen has such prominent full black stockings.

Not only is his face doleful, his entire appearance is dispirited. He reminds me of a down and out city street person who has lost hope and is ready to give up.

Black Sox obviously has had a rough winter. His coat is thin and matted, his tail lacking lustre and bushiness. He is painfully thin and appears weak.

He might be suffering from mange, the awful skin disease caused by mites, but I see no patches of raw skin in his fur. He also might have an intestinal parasite eating away his insides. Or, perhaps he is undernourished from lack of food during a long winter of deep snow worsened by episodes of freezing rain.

Foxes feed mainly on small mammals such as mice and voles during winter because  berries and insects are not available. But from my observations mice were scarce last winter because they hit their four-year population peak last year and now are at the low point of a new cycle.

Whatever the reason, it is sad to see Black Sox in such a sorry state. Red foxes are beautiful and among the cleverest of forest animals. They are even credited with teaching indigenous people how to capture ducks for food.

Foxes have been known to go to the edge of a water body where ducks are plentiful and start acting crazy, jumping and rolling about for no apparent reason. Ducks are curious birds and will swim close to shore to see why the fox is acting so silly. One quick lunge and the fox has dinner.

Hunters from early tribes copied the trick by tying a fox skin to a stick and wriggling it crazily from behind a bush or in a patch of reeds. When ducks approached to see what the commotion was about, the hunter tossed a net over them.

Some people believe that foxes have magical powers. I would like to believe that Black Sox’s magic brought all those colourful birds to brighten our spring. Probably not, but it is a pleasant thought.

I also want to believe that Black Sox does have magic that he will use to heal himself. And that the next time I see him his coat is fluffy and vibrant, his black socks velvety smooth and his eyes radiating his keen intelligence.

The real magic of Black Sox, and foxes in general, is that they remind us that life, inside and outside the forest, can be difficult and at times dangerous. But they also teach us that using our intelligence, instead of our emotions, will help us to manage whatever life throws at us.

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Endangered Bugs?

The ice, it seems, was scarcely off the lakes when the bugs were back.

Morning frost warnings and the absence of any semblance of daytime warmth has not postponed their return. The critical question now is how numerous they will be.

Will they be thick as a winter blizzard or thin as scattered snow flurries? Possibly thin and getting thinner if you read and believe recent scientific studies.

An Australian review of 73 scientific studies of insect decline has concluded that the total mass of the world’s insects is declining by “a shocking” 2.5 per cent a year. This rate of decline might lead to extinction of 40 per cent of the world’s insects over the next four decades, says the review.

“It is very rapid. In 10 years you will have a quarter less, in 50 years only half left and in 100 years you will have none,” says the review’s author, Francisco Sánchez-Bayo, at the University of Sydney, Australia.

Some might cheer at that, and perhaps even hope for a faster decline. It is difficult to feel empathy for black flies, mosquitoes and the like in our part of the world. They are nuisances with little apparent purpose.

Bugs, in fact, are a critical part of our world’s biodiversity. They are important pollinators, helping to produce the food we eat. They are food for birds and some animals and are  environmental stewards in that they eat dead matter and clear away waste.

In an earlier column I referred to E. O. Wilson, the American biologist and expert on insect life. His quote, mentioned then, is worth repeating: “If insects were to vanish, the environment would collapse into chaos.”

The importance of insects on other species can be seen in world bird populations, which also are declining at an alarming rate. Last year’s State of the World’s Birds report said that 40 per cent of the world’s 11,000 bird species are in decline, and that one in eight bird species is threatened with extinction.

Shrinking insect populations are not a major reason for decreased bird numbers but they are a factor. Agriculture, logging, invasive species and climate change are listed as major causes.

Agriculture is converting forests into farmland less suitable for both birds and insects. Both are being hurt by the use of chemicals in agriculture, notably in pesticides,

Evidence of this is seen in the U.S. where more land is being converted for grain production, especially corn for biofuel. The review says that between 2008 and 2013 wild bee populations declined 23 per cent, the same period during which farming for biofuels almost doubled.

Also, between 2008 and 2011 more than eight million acres of grasslands and wetlands were converted to corn production. That figure comes from the Environmental Working Group,  a controversial American activist group that specializes in research and advocacy in agriculture and toxic chemicals.

It is not reasonable to simply blame agriculture for declines in insect and bird populations. The issue is much more complicated and is really about overall habitat loss due to a variety of factors: urban growth, food and biofuel production, filling in wetlands, cutting down forests, pollution, and climate change.

A best first step to stopping or reducing species decline is awareness. How can we reasonably modify our lifestyles to lessen our negative impacts on the planet?

(A tiny step forward would be to persuade folks to stop tossing their garbage out their car windows. Haliburton County is without doubt the worse area for this anywhere I have lived in Canada, and I have lived in a lot of places).

Steep declines in some species – in fact mass extinctions – have occurred before. Meteor strikes and volcanic eruptions have wiped out huge numbers of insect species in the past but insect diversity always has recovered, even though it might have taken thousands of years.

We can’t do much about preventing natural occurrences such as volcanic eruptions and meteor strikes. But we can help all the other species around us by thinking about how our actions affect them.

We all hate the buzzing and biting of mosquitoes, black flies, deer flies and other nuisance bugs. But I don’t think any of us would like the barrenness and bleakness of a world without them.

Boat launch day thoughts

Getting the boat ready for spring launch can be stressful.

Will the motor start quickly and run smoothly after its winter hibernation? Did you remember to insert and secure the drain plug?  Are the trailer lights shining and blinking, as they were when stored last fall?

Much to think about. Much to remember. No time for Made in China complications.

But there they are. The light switch I installed last summer falls apart when I give it a test flick. Made in China.

Neither trailer tail light burns brightly or blinks the way it is supposed to. Bulbs Made in China.

Boat launch day reminds me that we are a society smothered in cheap Made in China products. It is difficult to find much of anything – from toys to medicines to consumer electrics and even nuts and bolts and screws – that is not Made in China.

China is Canada’s second largest trading partner now. Since 2011 Canada-China bilateral total trade has grown by more than $50 billion and Canada’s trade deficit with China has grown to billions of dollars. In other words, we buy a lot  more from China than we sell to it.

Much of what we buy from China is low cost, low quality junk not meant to last. Some of it is unhealthy and downright dangerous.

Some readers might recall the Made in China toys that contained unsafe levels of lead. Or the firecracker inspections that revealed that nearly 50 per cent of firecrackers sampled in 2017 didn’t pass product inspection and testing.

It is not that the Chinese are incapable of producing quality goods. Their factories turn out lower quality, inexpensive stuff for a reason: we North American consumers encourage them to because we want goods at lower prices.

When we buy cheap Chinese goods we forget – or ignore – how we are hurting ourselves. Much of what China is producing for our retail markets was invented and originally produced in North American factories. We have turned huge amounts of manufacturing over to China simply because they will produce it more cheaply.

Meanwhile, more of our factories close and our people have fewer jobs.

Maybe it is time to change our thinking. Begin thinking about paying more for goods produced at home; goods that will help to create the jobs needed to build and sustain strong communities, particularly in rural areas like Haliburton County.

Trade with China, and other global economies, is important and necessary. But there needs to be a balance, which in the case of China, certainly is missing.

China not only floods us with cheap products, it plays dirty and we respond in typical Canadian Milquetoast style. We are holding Hauwei Technologies executive Meng Wanzhou in house arrest under a legal agreement with the United States. We are following a rule of law, something that China seldom does.

In retaliation, China has imprisoned Canadians on trumped up charges, has suspended or cut back imports of Canadian canola and pork and has issued a travel advisory against Canada. It’s nasty and unlawful but that’s the way China operates.

Canada needs to get tough and fight back. And we don’t need to wait for our government. Citizens can get tough through their buying power.

The next time you purchase an item, determine if it is Made in China. If it is, ask if there is an alternative manufactured elsewhere. If there is, be willing to pay more for the alternative, especially if it is produced here at home.

We all like to pay less for the goods we buy but often we end up paying more for cheaper goods that don’t stand up and need to be replaced. Paying twice for a low quality item usually means paying more overall than for one quality item.

Also, there is growing comment that buying goods produced locally is better for the environment than buying goods produced abroad. Certainly Chinese manufacturing is no model of environmental awareness. China burns 47 per cent of the world’s coal to power its manufacturing plants.

Small consumer boycotts might seem ridiculously ineffective against a manufacturing giant. However, there are times in our lives when doing a little is far better than sitting back and doing nothing.

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A time for sane gun debate

The hard rock façade of The National Rifle Association (NRA) is starting to crack. And that’s a good thing.

The NRA, the world’s self-proclaimed No.1 defender of the right to bear arms, has become the No. 1 obstacle to stopping the never-ending gun violence in the United States. Its efforts to block sane gun control laws have extended into other countries, including Canada.

Now there are signs that some of the NRA’s four to five million members are beginning to question the association’s reason for being. There is growing conflict inside the NRA over whether it has wandered far from its original mission of promoting shooting sports and gun safety.

The NRA is no longer a shooting sports and gun safety organization. It is a far right wing political party with only one goal: Elect and influence politicians who will oppose any gun control legislation that will reduce the gunshot slaughter in America’s streets, homes, schools and houses of religion.

There have been roughly 17,000 gun violence incidents in the U.S. during the first four months of this year. That’s more than 4,000 a month, 140 day, or six every hour. Roughly 4,500 persons died in those incidents, another 8,300 were injured.

Doubt my figures? You can find them documented at www.gunviolencearchive.org. The site includes a U.S. map with red dots indicating locations where gun violence has occurred. The map looks like the back of a child infected with measles.

Cracks in the NRA’s stern, uncompromising attitude were seen at its recent annual convention in Indianapolis. The NRA board ousted Oliver North (he of the 1980s Iran-Contra scandal) as president because of feud between he and Wayne LaPierre, the organization’s chief executive.

The NRA has deep financial problems and its tax exempt status is being investigated by the state of New York, whose attorney-general has called it a terrorist organization.

The NRA was founded after the U.S. civil war as a sporting club dedicated to teaching marksmanship, gun safety and promoting hunting. But in the 1930s it got into lobbying,  even supporting limited gun control.

All that changed in the 1970s when new leadership opposed to federal gun controls changed its main purpose into lobbying for gun rights and fighting gun controls. And, they did it in a loud, uncompromising way.

Charlton Heston, the actor and NRA president, became famous for his use of the phrase “from my dead, cold hands”, implying that’s the only way the government would take his gun.

NRA messaging has become even more aggressive since. NRA spokeswoman Dana Loesch has said the NRA bears no responsibility for curbing gun violence and has vigorously attacked Democrats and the news media.

In 2016 she called the mainstream media "the rat bastards of the Earth . . . . I'm happy frankly to see them curb stomped.” Two years later when a guy with a shotgun killed five people in a Maryland newspaper newsroom she said she was not encouraging violence against journalists.

The NRA has a history of poking its nose into Canadian gun control debates. Heston attended a British Columbia Wildlife Federation meeting in 2000 and condemned our federal long-gun registry.

In 2005, an NRA strategist visited Canada to provide ‘political action’ training in advance of an upcoming Canadian federal election.

Our federal government now is studying whether and how to ban handguns and semi-automatic weapons. Despite its mounting problems, the NRA no doubt is again providing long-distance advice to Canadian anti-gun control groups.

Canadians don’t need any connection to the NRA, certainly not until its internal civil war returns it to its original mission of promoting sport shooting and gun safety.

The United States and Canada – in fact every country – needs effective and reasonable gun controls. This can be achieved through civil and informed debate with all sides willing to compromise, not with the mad-dog rhetoric of the NRA or other gun rights groups.  

Step One here in Canada surely has to be recognition that smuggled, illegal guns are a main cause of gun violence in our country. Step Two should be recognition that shooting sports are an important part of Canadian life and need to be protected from uninformed and unreasonably harsh calls of ‘ban all guns’ advocates.