My bad. I could have seen this coming and done something to stop it, but I didn’t, so I couldn’t. Now A65 hates you guys, and it’s all my fault. I’m so sorry.
Earlier this morning, while heading out to the Park to do nest checks, I actually caught myself skipping. Despite the foul mud, decaying bird carcasses, and enormous slicks of feces, I was splashing through it all, smiling like a child, without a care in the world.
The reason was simple: your quick, kind, and generous response to my recent call-to-action on behalf of the oystercatchers overwhelmed me. The nervous dread I usually feel as I approach the park to see which-horrible-thing happened last night was no match for your compassion, and maybe even more so, your interest.
I encounter a decent amount of hostile negativity working with local wildlife out on the beach. Of course it makes me worry even more for the animals. But I’m long past the point of taking it personally, or feeling hurt myself because I secretly wished people would appreciate me, let alone minding that they (at least say they) hate me. And of course I don’t care that people find my passion for the natural heritage of LBI annoying, or even boring.
No, what hurts is seeing all of these sad, mad, and very confused people walking around the beach, walking around paradise, needlessly (and mistakenly) angry. It’s really sad! How is it even possible that people who believe they love the shore, a region whose most prized attribute is its pristine, natural beauty, could be resistant at best, hostile at worst, to the native animals who are the heart of it? It’s absolutely nuts when you think about it! I mean this from the bottom of my heart, with no condescension whatsoever: I feel terrible for these souls. There is so much more peace, happiness, confidence… I don’t know, all the good stuff in life… to be had in this world. You don’t need to love the animals, or even be that interested… but to celebrate the shore, to tame it so we can build our dream homes here to share the most special memories of our lives with our families and loved ones, and then just turn our back on the original locals who loved this place just the same, our local animals, makes no sense and is a dark, dark view of who we are and what we are capable of. It’s a non-starter for me: if you want to overwhelm the shore to create magic memories for you and your family, you have to acknowledge all of the animals who have been displaced in the process if you want to point the future (including your own) in the right direction. It’s not even that hard; it only takes the tiniest bit of understanding, compromise, and sacrifice; and it pays you back in spades! Anything less is guaranteed to backfire on us.
So really, thank you. This blog is easy to ignore. It would have taken zero effort on your part to just close your web browser and say “that Reading wasn’t so good; I hope the next one is better.” Instead, you reached out and said, “this matters.” That’s the good stuff right there. We get to choose whether we live our lives in heaven or hell; it’s just such a relief to see so many of you choose wisely! My faith in our life along the coast? Restored!
Unfortunately, this all makes my blunder that much more unforgivable and awful. Here’s where I went wrong: I was remiss when I shared the video of the first oystercatcher to get “flashed” and neglected to tell you it was A65; the same oystercatcher who hid his new nest so unusually deep in the vegetation that I almost missed it completely. Had I shared that, I’m sure one of you would have suggested to me what should have been obvious: that A65 hid his new nest so well because he doesn’t want to get flashed again.
And so it was a huge disappointment, obviously, when I shared the news of your loving generosity with the oystercatchers, only to have A65 ask “Why do you think I hid my nest from yous? I don’t like getting flasheded,” and then adding “I hates you guys,” just like the grumpy folks walking their dogs illegally in the park.
But that’s not going stop us from pushing forward. First of all, oystercatchers are known for being very dramatic, always looking for confrontations, and often saying things they don’t mean, and later regret. Secondly, we have a bit of taking-your-dog-to-the-vet situation… because A65 likes having a fox eat his eggs even less! (And please don’t say “it’s so weird, my dog LOVES going to the vet,” because the rest of us, whose dogs pee all over the car if you even turn down a road that might lead to the vet’s office, will hate you.)
I guess what I’m trying to say is, we are past the point of letting misplaced anger and unintentional ignorance stop us from doing the right things; the only reasonable things; the better things. The best way to make the nay-sayers see the light is to fill the beach with baby beach nesters. That’ll learn ’em. So let’s do it.
And, also, thank you!
Say something kind