Into The Woods: Chickadees at Beacon
Doug Smith
How well do you think you know the Beacon property? You know the waterfront and the dining room and the Lighthouse, (though maybe not the new building yet) and the various cabins, and the tuck shop, of course. And all the paths between these buildings. But do you know about the space on the underside of the rail fence near the bell tower? Probably not, but the chickadees know of it, as they use it to hide seeds there for later consumption. They are even acquainted with the inside of the bell, where they look for spiders. The chickadees know Beacon intimately. It’s their home 24/7, 365 days a year.
They know where to find insect larva under the siding at the boathouse, and where and when it is safe to take a drink at the lakeshore. They know the nearby birch trees, finding caterpillars there in the summer, and feeding on the catkins in the fall. They may even know the state of the health of those trees, as they find the pests that invade the trees when they are compromised. And they know which one may be suitable for a nest site in the springtime.
Chickadees know the safest places to hide when they are in danger from a hawk or other predator, no matter where they are in camp. They make sure they are always near such a place of safety. They know which trees keep them dry when it rains, and the warmest places to roost during the long winter nights. They know where there is the best chance of finding food in any season, and can remember where their food stashes are for those times when they can’t find enough to eat.
Having an aerial view several metres above the ground the chickadees see all the comings and goings of the campers and staff and volunteers all around the property. They are aware of the patterns of movement all of us make, and how to avoid too close a contact. They have their own flight paths through the woods and fly between their favourite destinations around Beacon faster than you or I, even with the golf cart.
They have their own territories within Beacon’s boundaries, and extend these outside the human-made property lines. Their own family dynamics and flock hierarchy come into play in all of this. They have their own ‘memories’ of Beacon, perhaps going back many generations, even to a time before Beacon existed. The chickadees and the many other animals that live on the Beacon property know it well, and differently from what we have experienced there. We can learn a great deal more about this familiar, special part of God’s Creation as we watch them move about camp.
“‘Who gives the ibis wisdom or gives the rooster understanding?’”